Iturbe Joins Juventus

Juventus has joined AC Milan and the other clubs in the race of securing the services of the Argentina international Juan Iturbe.

Iturbe who is just 21 years of age has attracted a lot of clubs around the world. Apart from Juventus, the likes of Roma and Real Madrid have also had the young winger on their radar.

Iturbe’s career seemed to be going downhill when he was at Porto. Even when he was placed on loan to River Plate at the start of 2013, he couldn’t do that much.

But, after being bought by the Serie A new boys Hellas Verona last summer, his fortunes changed. He appeared to be at home in Italy.

Iturbe was given starting opportunity in 29 league matches at Hellas Verona and he was able to find the back of the net 8 times. That’s not a bad performance for a winger.

It was his performance there in Italy that made Iturbe one of the most highly rated wingers in Europe.

A meeting is believed to happen between the officials of Juventus and Hellas Verona pretty soon regarding Iturbe’s transfer.

However, AC Milan is not going to let Juventus grab Iturbe that easily. They are also said to be eager to buy a couple of dynamic players after the departure of the guys like Kaka. They are not lacking transfer funds either. So, these two clubs are expected to indulge in a tough battle for the services of the player.

There would be a lot of pressure on Milan this summer. After quite a while, they failed to qualify for Europe last season. Having been humiliated by that, the club board made changes at the top and brought in a new manager in the form of Filippo Inzaghi who is trying to reshuffle the first team squad at the moment.

Inzaghi Expected To Become AC Milan Manager

AC Milan midfielder Ricardo Montolivo has rejected suggestions that the players have tried to make Filippo Inzaghi is their next manager. It is widely expected that the current Milan youth team coach will become the next manager. Clarence Seedorf is widely expected to receive the sack after falling out with the club officials in recent weeks. The Dutchman was appointed as the replacement for Massimiliano Allegri only a few months ago. However, results on the pitch failed to improve and his poor relationship with the owners is also set to cost him his job.

Inzaghi, who has been the club’s youth team coach, has been groomed into becoming the next Milan manager for several years. Now, his time has come to take over at the club, but Montolivo has dismissed suggestions that the players played a crucial role in the expected appointment. He says that the players just talk with Inzaghi as a former teammate and nothing more. The midfielder, who has recently been ruled out of the World Cup 2014 due to an injury, also stated that he expects Milan striker Mario Balotelli to become the most important player at the World Cup.

Montolivo suffered an injury during the draw with Republic of Ireland in a warmup match.

“There are some who made a conspiracy out of it when I and some of my team-mates went to see a game at Milanello coached by Pippo. We had lunch at Milanello and we wanted to provide support for the Primavera, who share our dressing room. So no, no conspiracy. The rest will be discussed later, as and when things are certain. Would I like to be coached by Inzaghi? I don’t know him, in the sense I’ve never been coached by him,” said the midfielder. Prandelli described Montolivo’s injury as a devastating blow for the Italian national team.

AC Milan happy with Victory Over Inter Milan

AC Milan manager Clarence Seedorf was a delighted man after his team managed a 1-0 win over city rivals Inter Milan in the latest Milan derby. Inter Milan where the overwhelming favourites to get three points coming into the encounter due to the good run of form. Milan, on the other hand, have been struggling throughout the season for form and consistency. They came into the match on the back of a 2-0 defeat against Roma, although this was the first defeat that they suffered in the last four matches. Milan returned to winning ways after a 1-0 win at the San Siro.

Nigel de Jong scored the only goal of the game, as Milan continued to climb up the table. They are now eighth in the Italian Serie A table with two matches remaining. Seedorf was given the ultimate of getting Milan into the Europa League at all costs. Since the club will be without Champions League the season, they had made it a priority to at least get into the Europa league so as to maintain the prestige of the club. It looks like Milan will be able to achieve this with results going their way in the last few weeks.

Inter Milan occupy the final Europa league qualifying spot and they are just three points above them in the table.

“I wanted to enjoy the derby. The team went out there with the right spirit and, although we were a little nervous at the beginning, we soon took control of the game. We deserved to have the upper hand and we deserved to win. Everyone played well and they played like a real team. That certainly makes life easier for the lads. We now need to enjoy this victory and then we can work on taking all three points from Atalanta,” said Seedorf.

TAARABT WANTS TO STAY

The Moroccan midfielder Adel Taarabt joined Ac.Milan from QPR on a loan deal that expires at the end of the current campaign but the 24 years old player has made a number of superb performances and now a permanent deal is on the horizon at least according to his agent Vincenzo Morabito.

“Milan will take up their option and there is already a deal between the two clubs to sign him at the end of the season for a reasonable, symbolic price. It won’t be any more than €3 million or €4 million. It would mean something extraordinary if that didn’t happen.” Morabito announced.

Taarabt made his debut with the Italian club when he was featured in Ac.Milan’s Serie A match against Napoli and the Moroccan player scored a stunning goal as he dribbled the ball half way across the pitch until blasting it into the net. He has also revealed his current situation in Italy as well as saying what the objectives of Ac.Milan are.

“My agent is already talking to Milan, as I am very happy here. I have played in important games, I really like Italy and I want to stay with Milan. It was a negative period for Milan after the Champions League exit, but with the draw at Lazio everything changed’’.

“Europa League qualification is an objective above all for the fans, but we must take it one game at a time.” Taarabt said.

Considering that Taarabt has already demonstrated that he can perform well with the Italian club, it would be a wise choice for Seedorf to considering on signing the QPR player on a permanent basis as it would help them out for the upcoming seasons and they will definitely need all the help they can get.

AC KNOCKED OUT

AC Milan were knocked out of the Champions League in the most humbling circumstances after a 5-1 defeat against Atletico Madrid in the last 16 stage. This was a result that put more pressure on manager Clarence Seedorf, who took over only a few months ago. Seedorf rested a number of players for the weekend’s match against Udinese, which ended in a 1-0 defeat for the team. It has been rumoured that Seedorf had made a priority to reach the quarter-finals of the Champions League rather than compete for the Europa league places.

The financial rewards of reaching the quarter-finals of the Champions League are far greater than going through an entire season of Europa league football. However, the ploy did not work after Milan allowed Atletico Madrid to take the lead after just two minutes through Diego Costa. Even though Kaka managed to get the club back into the game with a goal in the first half, the match was effectively over in the second half after goals from Raul Garcia and Turan. The defeat means that Milan have won only once in the last five matches.

They will now shift their attention to the league, in which they are 10th in the table. Seedorf said after the match that the tie was lost in the first half.

“You could see after the second goal that the team struggled psychologically to react, as they often do. The second goal turned off the light and sapped the energy from the team. We analysed the situation together. Obviously the Champions League was an important objective for us and economically for the club. We had played well in the first leg and showed in the first half that we could play on a par with Atletico, but couldn’t be consistent for the whole game,” said Seedorf.