AC Milan general spiel

[RomaShield27]

Milan to sign Pepe? Not sure he quite has the technical qualities to succeed at Milan. Could be another Gilardino.

Milan make Pepe bid
Wednesday 11 November, 2009

Milan are said to be in negotiations for Udinese and Italy forward Simone Pepe, as Leonardo fine-tunes his 4-3-3 system.
According to newspaper Il Giornale, the Rossoneri have pin-pointed the 26-year-old Roma youth product as the perfect alternative to Ronaldinho and Alexandre Pato on the wings.

He is accustomed to this system after playing in it with Udinese for several seasons and can be used on either flank. It is claimed that the two clubs are already in the thick of negotiations for a January transfer, although there are some major obstacles.

Udinese would only be ready to release Pepe in a permanent deal, whereas Milan would like a loan with the right to buy in June. He’d be a valuable signing for the Rossoneri, as because Udinese are not in Europe this season, he would be available for the Champions League squad.

[San Paolo]

great, lets get Floro Flores as well to replace Hunter!

[RobHood]

[p_maldini_3]

[RomaShield27]

[vtec]

i don't think it's drive, but confidence. gilardino couldn't find confidence while with us either. some players are just not meant to play for a big club where there is too much attention on you, and i think huntelaar is another one of those players. he failed at madrid for the same reason, which is why i didn't think he was a good pick up from the get go.

[Bagg10]

[RomaShield27]

Huntelaar promises to come good
Thursday 12 November, 2009

Milan striker Klaas-Jan Huntelaar has promised to prove his critics wrong and show that he deserves to be at San Siro. The 26-year-old Holland international, who joined Milan from Real Madrid in the summer, has yet to score in eight appearances this season. It has been reported that Milan might attempt to cut their losses and sell Huntelaar in January so they can bring in another striker.

“Training went well the other week, even Leonardo said so, but he also added that I have to be patient,â€

[vtec]

you have a point, bagg, but i suppose that is the difference between the great strikers and the not-so-great ones. perhaps i've taken it for granted that milan is a place for the great ones who don't take months to adapt. great strikers make themselves regular starters. take pato, for example. it's not all that unusual.

[vtec]

Keeper badly hurt in bike smash

Tottenham Hotspur goalkeeper Carlo Cudicini has suffered "potentially life-changing injuries" in a motorbike accident in east London, police said.

He was taken to hospital after his BMW bike was involved in a collision with a car in Walthamstow at about 1030 GMT.

He has fractured his wrists and injured his pelvis but a spokesman for the north London club said they were still waiting for hospital test results.

The Italian, 36, signed from London rivals Chelsea in January this year.

The female driver and a child passenger walked away from the Ford Fiesta Cudicini was in collision with and did not need hospital treatment.

The accident happened on Forest Road.

A Metropolitan Police spokesperson said: "A 36-year-old male suffered injuries described by the London Ambulance Service as possibly life-changing and was taken to an east London hospital for further assessment and treatment.

"No arrests have been made."

A statement on Tottenham's website said: "Carlo Cudicini has fractured his wrists and injured his pelvis after being involved in a road accident this morning.

"The 36-year-old Italian goalkeeper has been admitted to hospital and undergone scans under the supervision of club medical staff.

"The club will update supporters on Carlo as soon as there is any further information."

Cudicini was signed by manager Harry Redknapp on a free transfer and has made eight appearances standing in for the injured Heurelho Gomes.

He spent almost 10 years at the west London club after spells at AC Milan and Lazio.

His father Fabio was AC Milan's goalkeeper in the 1960s.

[ricky2882]

I would LOVE to have Huntelaar at Juve. That's all I'll say about him. Milan need to give him more full-90-minute games before calling him a flop.

[ricky2882]

Btw, you guys are just 7 points behind Inter - that's the same number of points WE were behind Inter last week. I think it's now fair for Milanisti to dream about the Scudetto. Nice comeback

[red]

It's really cruel to get their hopes up like that, Ricky.

[Bagg10]

[p_maldini_3]

[vtec]

[San Paolo]

[RomaShield27]

I Want To Join Milan - Wolfsburg Striker Edin Dzeko
The highly-rated hitman is eager to join the San Siro giants...

www.goal.com – Nov 17, 2009 9:17:55 AM

Wolfsburg striker Edin Dzeko has illustrated plans to push through a move to Milan in the summer, as he flirts heavily with Calcio.

Dzeko has been closely followed by the Rossoneri, who opened up dialogue with the Germans during the last transfer campaign. But the move stalled and he remained in the Bundesliga.

He has now hinted at his penchant for Serie A, as he confirmed his intentions to leave Wolfsburg.

"The story with Milan is not over," Dzeko told La Gazzetta Dello Sport.

"I have already told Wolfsburg directors that I want to leave and transfer to Milan. I have always been a Milan fan and I want to become a Rossonero in June."

Reports suggest Manchester United are also keen on the hitman. His price tag is around €30million, but his will to join Milan could prove the biggest factor when negotiating a deal.

[San Paolo]

€30 mil feckin nora they only wanted half of that 12 months ago!!

[RomaShield27]

AC Milan's Nottingham-born hero
– Page last updated at 11:22 GMT, Tuesday, 17 November 2009 – By Neil Heath

Italian football giants AC Milan rightly lay claim to being one of the biggest and most famous clubs in world football. But few people realise the debt of gratitude they owe Nottingham. Seven-times European Cup winners AC Milan are a team who have been dominant both on the domestic front and in Europe and are synonymous with style and success. But had it not been for Nottingham lace-maker Herbert Kilpin, then AC Milan's glorious trophy-laden history may not have happened.

Kilpin, a butcher's son in his late twenties, emigrated to work in the textile industry in the 1890s. But after a heavy drinking session in a Milanese tavern, the homesick Kilpin and five friends decided to start a football team to remind them of home. AC Milan was born.

Kilpin became the club's first coach and captain, as well as the team's star player. And not content with that, Kilpin even designed the team's famous kit. He said: "We are a team of devils. Our colours are red as fire and black to invoke fear in our opponents!" Today he is celebrated in the city as the 'first true Milanista champion'. That famous strip has since been worn by legendary footballers including Ronaldhino, Andriy Shevchenko, Kaká and David Beckham.

Notts County have for so long claimed Nottingham's most famous link with the superstars of Italian football.
The history between the two sides goes back 106 years to when Juve changed their kit to copy the colours of Notts. But Kilpin's story is just as significant in the development of an Italian side from humble beginnings to world beaters. Kilpin was born in Nottingham on 28 January 1870 and grew up with nine brothers and sisters at 129 Mansfield Road. He was the son of a butcher and after leaving school he worked as a lace warehouse assistant in the city. Kilpin was a keen footballer and played in defence and midfield for the now defunct Notts Olympic and then for St. Andrews, a church team based near the Forest Recreation Ground on Gregory Boulevard.

In 1891, Kilpin moved to Turin to work for Edoardo Bosio, an Italian-Swiss textile merchant with links to Nottingham lace manufacturer Thomas Adams. In the same year Bosio founded Internazionale Torino, believed to be the first Italian football club. Kilpin played for the team and in doing so became the first-ever Englishman to play football abroad. In 1897 Kilpin travelled east to Milan.

And two years later, in the Fiaschetteria Toscana tavern in Milan, Kilpin and some fellow Englishmen, all missing their sport, founded the Milan Cricket and Football Club. In 1901 - with Kilpin at its heart - the football team won their first league title in only their second season. Remarkably, bearing in mind Kilpin's legend status in Milan, he only played 27 games and scored seven goals.


John Foot, who wrote Calcio, A History of Italian Football, said Kilpin was a portly figure who played in every position, but he would not have been one of England's top players. However, Italian football was in its infancy and pioneers like Kilpin became heroes. Foot also said Kilpin was famed for his drinking and even kept a bottle of whisky in a hole behind the goal. Kilpin claimed this was to soften the blow when the opposition scored. Despite his love of a drink Kilpin led Milan to a further two championships in 1906 and 1907.

Kilpin died in poverty in 1916, aged 46. No one knows how he died and his grave was believed to have been lost. However, during the 1990s an amateur historian named Luigi La Rocca tracked down Kilpin's grave in the Municipal Cemetery, Milan. It had no reference to his name and was located in a part of the cemetery reserved for protestants. But in 1999, AC Milan paid for a new tombstone and their illustrious founder was reburied in the Monumental Graveyard in Milan.