Izuchukwu Okosi
Super Eagles winger Samuel Chukwueze was not involved in AC Milan’s pre season friendly against Juventus on Friday but the Nigerian may be available for his new team in the high profile game against Barcelona on Wednesday, August 2.
AC Milan manager, Stefano Pioli was obviously elated by the acquisition of the Nigerian and is looking forward to working him.
Join our WhatsApp Channel“We had spoken to each other a couple of times, we were looking for a player with these characteristics. He’s fast, technical, strong in one-on-one situations and attacks deep. He seems like a complete winger to me,” Pioli said after the friendly against the Old Lady.
Chukwueze completed a sensational move to the seven-time European champions from Villarreal on a five-year contract this week valued at £28m, following weeks of negotiations over a transfer fee between the two clubs.
The Italian giants identified the Nigerian as part of their plans for the coming seasons and saw an initial £20m bid rejected by Villarreal.
He arrived as Milan’s seventh signing in this transfer window, following the arrival of Nigerian-born, Austrian international, Noah Okafor, and others including Christain Pulisic, Tijjani Reijnders, Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Luka Romero and Marco Sportiello.
Chukwueze registered 13 goals and 11 assists in 50 games for Villarreal last season, and was ranked fifth with 76 successful dribbles in Europe’s top five leagues.
Speaking after their defeat to rivals Juventus in a pre-season game in the United States, AC Milan manager Stefano Pioli claimed that the 24-year-old has all the attributes he is looking for in a new winger and labelled the Nigerian as a “complete winger” as quoted by calciomercato.com.
Izuchukwu Okosi is a Nigerian sports and entertainment journalist with two decades of experience in the media industry having begun his media journey in 2002 as an intern at Mundial Sports International (MSI) and Africa Independent Television (AIT), owners of Daar Communications Plc.
