When the
referee waved a second yellow then red at Gabriel Paletta on Sunday, for the
fifth time this season, it seemed as if he was summoning his Jedi powers as if
to say “This is not the Argentinian center back you were looking for.” And even
if the guy still has a year left on his contract, we can only hope that comes
true. Because now, over a week after taking his medicals, I believe we have found the Argentinian center back
we are looking for. And his name is Mateo Musacchio.
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| The red and black is strong with him |
Musacchio
comes to us from Villareal, and please don’t let our Colombian center back who
also came from Villareal tarnish your impression of him (thanks a lot, Zapata.
Actually, they played together during the 2011-12 season as the preferred
pairing.) At the age of 26, he has seven solid years of experience at
Villareal. That is 189 appearances and seven goals since he debuted in the
first team at age 19. And that debut with the first team was delayed about six
months only because his status as a non-EU player. Once he obtained a European
(Italian, to be exact) passport, he has been the first choice defender more
often than not, often playing ahead of more experienced defenders.
Musacchio
came through the River Plate youth system in Argentina and even made ten
appearances for the first team before moving to Villareal. In fact, he was the
youngest player to ever start for River Plate. He also made 15 appearances for
the Argentinian U17 side, three appearances for Argentina’s U20 team, and six
appearances so far for the Argentinian senior national team. He also comes from
Rosario, Argentina, the same place Messi was born. I’m just saying.
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| Just a couple of hometown boys having some fun |
Musacchio
has had a few big injuries in recent years, including one that is only
for the faint of heart. (Stupid Barcelona!) But it doesn’t seem like he
is an always-injured player, he is merely a center back who gives 100%, and
those guys will pick up injuries sometimes. He does have valuable experience in
both the Europa League and Champions League with Villareal, and that will
really come in handy next year as we try to fight through three competitions.
The
concept of a more experienced center back who has been very solid coming in and
pairing with Romagnoli is the thing Milan fans’ dreams are made of. Dreams that
have lasted for more than a year, as he was a player that Milan were after last
year when the club sale did not go through, and thus we were not able to
purchase any players of appreciable value. But this year is different, and Musacchio
has signed a four year contract. That feels like a… what is it called? Oh,
yeah, commitment. Speaking of commitments, with Musacchio, last year, Villareal
only conceded 33 goals the entire season, the second best defense in La Liga
after only Atletico Madrid.
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| Enough of the Villareal yellow, it's time to find some gold |
A solid
center back, young enough but not too young, coming in on a four year contract
feels like a dream come true. But it really is true. May 30th, and we’ve
already completed a signing and renewed Montella. With another player in
medicals already, these must be the signings we were looking for. We won’t know until the transfers are complete and the matches begin
if Milan truly are back to compete at the highest level. But signing Musacchio
does give us fans a certain amount of security.Four years of security, to be
exact. And he’s already updated his Twitter profile, too, so he’s
clearly excited to be here. The first signing of the new Milan era… welcome
Musacchio!
This post inspired
by the music of Dreamcar