Dude! So there’s like this kid who’s like totally awesome.
He like loves pizza and is totally funny and likes to prank people and stuff.
His name is Michelangelo, but his friends call him Mikey. He and his brothers
Leonardo, Donatello, and Raphael like to save the world. Oh, and then there’s
this other kid who’s also called Michelangelo and is also totally awesome, and
he likes to save his team. He’s a 23 year-old center back but can also play at
left back. One of these kids is a Milan player, currently on tour in the United
States, and one of them is a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle, coming once again to
a theater near you this Friday. I’ll let you figure out which is which.
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| Two Michelangelos, both trying to save the world... or something |
The one who is the footballer is called Michelangelo
Albertazzi. He was born in 1991 in Bologna and grew up in the Bologna youth
system until 2007, when Milan bought him on a co-ownership deal for a cool €1m.
He stayed in Bologna until January of 2008, when Milan bought out his
co-ownership for another €1m. He was shown a lot of faith at Bologna, playing
with their Primavera as early as 15 or 16 years old. And when he came to Milan,
he won the Primavera cup with them in 2010.
But after that, his playing time was significantly impacted
as he was loaned out to Getafe for the first half of the 2011-12 season. And by
significantly impacted, I mean he didn’t play at all. He came back and was
immediately loaned out to Serie B side Varese, where he played a few games for
their Primavera team and made only 2 starts for the first team in 6 months. However,
he did feature for every Italy squad from U16 to U20 from 2006 through 2011,
scoring a total of 5 goals for the various squads.
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| He showed promise at Bologna |
Coming back to Milan, he was originally named to be in the
23 man squad for the Trofeo TIM tournament in 2012, but was then sent to Hellas
Verona on a co-ownership deal, who were then in Serie B. He played 19 games and
even scored a goal over his 2 seasons with Verona, one in Serie B and another
in Serie A. He also had a knee injury during the 2011-12 season that kept him
out for two months.
Albertazzi finally came back to Milan this season in
a strange way. When a player is co-owned by two clubs and they can’t
come to an agreement on him, they go to a blind auction, also known as “going
to the envelopes.” Each team puts an amount in an envelope blindly, and when
the envelopes are opened, the highest bid wins the player. So Verona’s bid was
€375.000, and Milan’s was a cautious €501.000. Meaning they only wanted to
spend €500.000, but just in case Verona also were willing to spend that, they
added the single Euro. Which means I think
they wanted him. I think.
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| He did well enough vs. Balotelli at Verona |
Having
won the bid for Albertazzi and seeing as how he’s too old to play for
the Primavera, Milan announced he would be joining the first team. There are
still rumors of him being sold or loaned, but he did see some decent playing
time in the friendlies thus far. This Michelangelo is in a difficult position
because he’s likely as good as or better than most of our defenders, but with
his age and lack of playing time, he may not get a chance to show it before
being shipped off to any interested party.
At the young age of 23, it’s hard to tell if his earlier
success and faith shown him was just a fluke or if he is the real deal. And
joining Milan at a time like this is hard for a player like him, too, as he is
not going to get a lot of faith from the fans if he doesn’t show his quality
immediately.
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| The kid who plays like a man... fishing, shooting, and flying airplanes amongst his hobbies |
He may not be the pizza-loving jokester that his TMNT
counterpart of the same name is. But he is young and brave and likes to save
the world (or at least Milan’s world.)
Only time will tell if he really has what it takes and whether or not
this move has been the best for him and his career. So if you are looking for a
lot of action, you should probably see the new movie. But if you are looking
for a possible new defender rising from the ashes of a storied club, keep an
eye out for Michelangelo Albertazzi. He may only be a kid, but he might just
surprise you.
This post inspired by pizza
Our next match is
Chivas Guadalajara vs. Milan
Wednesday, August 6 • 9pm EDT
This match is being shown in the US on BeIN Sport