Milan is preparing to welcome Samuel Chukwueze today. Once the agreement between the clubs was definitively reached on Monday evening for 20 million plus 8 bonuses, the Nigerian has obtained permission from Villarreal to travel to Italy and will land in Linate today at 1.30pm, carry out medical tests and sign the new contract with the Rossoneri from 4 million net per season for 5 years. Due to the not so short timescales relating to the visa, as Milan said, he will not fly to the United States and will remain to train at Milanello.
Who is Samuel Chukwueze
Born on May 22, 1999 in Ugba-Ibeku, Nigeria, Chukwueze grew up in the Diamond Football Academy and embraced Europe with Villarreal in 2017. In the season that just ended, he made an impressive 50 appearances (with an average of 65 minutes per game), scoring 13 goals and 11 assists. He also boasts a 50.2% dribbling rate, with 11 scoring chances per game coming from his feet. With the Spanish club, he conquered the Europa League in 2021.
For Chukwueze, football is a family affair, as his grandfather had a good football career at local level (he was also left-footed). The new AC Milan signing has never hidden his admiration for the great idol Robben, an example on the pitch, so much so that in his homeland someone has already compared him several times to the Dutch for the way he plays. Considering his origins and career, another point of reference for him was his compatriot Jay-Jay Okocha.
Not long ago, Chukwueze told about his love for football in an interview with Goal: “I am happy just to play football and see where it takes me. I always try to be patient, I’m not one to want everything right away. I am happy to take small steps towards bigger goals. I love playing, I love training. From the moment I wake up, I want to kick a ball. It’s a joy for me.”
Also in the same interview, the Nigerian had recounted the difficulties of the beginnings. Mainly because of his mother’s hostility towards football: “I liked playing from an early age, but she always tried to stop me. She forced me to stay at home and focus on my studies ”. One day his family even burned his bag, boots, uniform to push him to change his mind and, for a while, Samuel thus stopped playing. But the big break still knocked on his door some time later: “A friend explained to me that there was a selection to take part in a tournament in Portugal, but I said no because they wouldn’t let me. He came home at 6 in the morning, my mother opened the door and came to wake me up. I told her I wouldn’t go, but she was the one who asked me to take my boots and leave the house”. From there, Samuel’s career was born.
The other market movements of the Rossoneri
The next step for Pioli’s new Milan should be, barring surprises, Musah from Valencia, for whom it seems a matter of days since only a few million euros would dance between supply and demand. As for the outgoing market, De Ketelaere, who has not received concrete and important offers so far and, above all, would like to try to relaunch himself in the Rossoneri, is the ace who could break the bank. A sale of him, perhaps starting from 28 million, necessary to avoid making losses in the balance sheet, could convince Moncada and Furlani to intervene again in attack. The names? Impossible to make them at the moment also because the non-EU question opened in these days by the FIGC – the request to Coni to equate players from the United Kingdom to EU players – could end up freeing up a slot in the AC Milan squad and in this sense it could even return in Taremi fashion, runway abandoned with some regret just to close the Chukwueze deal.
Matteo Gabbia, on the other hand, said goodbye to the Rossoneri and went to Spain. The Rossoneri centre-back has signed with Villarreal where he will move on loan and has already said goodbye to his teammates. These are his words before embarking from Los Angeles to Valencia, the closest airport to the city of Vila-Real: “I am happy and enthusiastic about this new experience in Spain. I could not accept, they immediately stimulated me a lot. But I’m sorry to say goodbye to this amazing group. I wish the best to my team-mates and the staff, I hope that Milan get a lot of satisfaction this year. Greetings and thanks also to the fans. His place in the squad could be taken by the young Simic, excellent against Real Madrid in Pasadena. After Gabbia, the list of departing players is extensive, from Messias to Saelemaekers (Turin for the former, offers between 10 and 15 million are expected for the latter) up to Origi and Rebic, passing through Caldara.
This article is originally published on williamhillnews.it
