30/5/2002 Coco / Seedorf swap official

Francesco Coco and Clarence Seedorf have now been swapped according to both Milan and Inter. It is now up to both clubs to finalise the deals with the players. Milan have already done this even stating that they have halved Seedorf's salary.

29/5/2002 Transfers update

These are the latest rumours surrounding Milan as of today. Cannavaro seems closer since it has been rumoured that Juventus have snapped up Nesta. Coco should be returning to Milan, as promised by Galliani, but could then be swapped for Seedorf. Seedorf has accepted to join Milan even though the club will reduce his salary by half !!! Milan are still in talks with Lazio for Stam and Inzaghi Jr. The transfer of Javi Moreno and Fabricio Coloccini has been finalised with Atletico Madrid. In the meantime valencia are after Jose Mari.

Milan today thanked Pincolini for his services as club physio and have appointed Tognaccini as his successor to run the new Milan Lab system.

27/5/2002 Inzaghi injury ..... not serious

Inzaghi's injury with the national team is not as serious as predicted and the player will start training again in two days. He will miss the opening match against Ecuador just to make sure though.

Redondo

Fernando Redondo will commence training with Milan as from 1st July. News from Argentina is that the player is fully fit and training. Galliani gave the news expressing his satisfaction at this, pointing out, however, that until the player has been examined by Milan's medical doctos he will give this news with the necessary reservations.

Coco

It has now been officially confirmed by Barcellona that they will not pay the sum required to keep Francesco Coco in Spain. The player will therefore return to becoming Milan property as from June 1st. Milan will be in a position to discuss the player's future on his retuen to Milano from the world cup duties.

Milan College

Adriano Galliani has pointed out a new program for Milan's teams. With the departure of Franco Baresi as head of the youth teams, Galliani stated that the role will not be given to anyone else. There shall be a new system. Both the first team and the Primavera team will train together. Ancelotti will be the head coach and Tassotti will be the assistant coach. This system resembles the system used by basketball teams. The added advantage will be that all the primavera players will train and learn alongside their more famous counterparts and therefore Ancelotti will be able to select players for serie A matches from all the comonents of the squad.

26/5/2002 Inzaghi injured in friendly

Pippo Inzaghi was injured today in a friendly with the Italian national team against Japan's champions Kashima Antlers. Inzaghi had just scored Italy's first goal in Japan when he felt a twinge in his left knee, the same one he underwent surgery for earlier this year. As a precaution he went off the field. A magnetic resonance test tomorrow will confirm whether or not his injury is serious enough to warrant a trip back to Italy.

Milan move for Dalla Bona

After months of specualtion Milan are again in pole position to get the Italian back to Italy from Chelsea. There is however, one stumbling block. Chelsea's asking price is way too high and Milan's management are in talks with Chelsea to reduce the asking fee.

Defence

Galliani has promised a central defender. The chances are that one of either Hofland or Kuffour would be this defender.

21/5/2002 Baresi to Fulham, Tassotti to Piacenza

Franco Baresi and Mauro Tassotti are set to move to new pastures. Both great Milan heroes have ben approached by two clubs for two different jobs. Baresi has been approached by Fulham as a consultant to club president Al Fayed whilst Tassotti has been approached by Piacenza for the role of manager. Baresi seems set to accept the proposal, however, nothing official has been concluded as yet and talks are at hand. Tassotti move seems to be more pronounced since he has already approached some Milan youngsters to move with him to piacenza, namely, Rabito, Sarr and Kutuzov.

20/5/2002 Milan lose to Mexico

In the last game of their US Tour Milan lost 2-1 to Mexico. The scorer of Milan's goal was Serginho.

18/5/2002 Coloccini and Moreno

Fabrizio Coloccini and Javi Moreno are officially Atletico Madrid players. The ex-Alaves defender and the ex-Milan striker have been transferred to newly promoted Atletico Madrid. It also seems that Atletico Madrid have the right to sign Coloccini for good for a fee which has been decided upon at the end of the current season.

Transfer talk

Transfer talk at Milan is now reaching it's usual epic proportions. The latest talk is an exchange between Milan and Lazio with Rui Costa moving to Lazio and Stam and Simone Inzaghi moving to Milan. Milan are still in search of good defenders and Cannavaro, Stam and Hofland are still on Milan's shopping list.

17/5/2002 Milan draw with Metrostars

Milan disappointed again this time drawing 1-1 against the new York Metrostars. Ancelotti fielded Hubner right from the start and after De Asccentis missed a sitter Milan took the lead from a Jose Mari shot which was punched into goal byt the keeper. Tab Ramos, who incidentally just announced his retirement scored the equaliser in the second half. Brocchi was captian of the squad and Leonardo made an appearance for Milan in this match.

Milan had earlier lost to Ecuador 2-1 last week.

9/5/2002 Milan after Seedorf

Milan are currently trying to lure Clarence Seedorf from Inter to the rossoneri's side of the city. Inter want Serginho for thie midfielder however, Milan want to keep the Brasilian in their ranks. Francesco Coco could also be a possible pawn in the transfer and may be used to get the Dutch international. In defence Costacurta should be renewing his contract for another year whilst in goal Dida will be returning to Milan to second Abbiati. Rossi, Ba, Simone, Kutuzov and Javi Moreno are sure to leave the club.

8/5/2002 Milan sign Damiano Zenoni

Milan have signed, it seems, Damiano Zenoni from Atalanta. The twin brother of Cristiano Zenoni, who was signed for Milan but was passed on to Juventus in the Inzaghi deal, is a right sided midfielder and is 25 years old.

7/5/2002 Umit returns home

Umit Davala has returned to Galatasaray with Fatih Terim. The ex-Milan manager has just signed, with Milan's blessing since he was still under contract, a four year deal with the Turkish club. Milan midfielder Umit Davala will be joing him on loan.

USA Tour - the players

This is the team list which is to take part in the matches to be played in the USA. Of course, given that most players will be off to play in the world cup, Milan had to borrow some players.

Goalkeepers: Fiori, Taibi (Atalanta)

Defenders: Contra, Kaladze, M. Paganin (Atalanta), Savino (Lecce), Sarr

Midfielders: Ambrosini (in preallarme per i Mondiali), Ba, Brocchi, Conticchio (Lecce), Daino, De Ascentis (Torino), Orlandini (Brescia), Serginho, Tonetto (Lecce)

Attackers: Hubner (Piacenza), Kutuzov, Josè Mari, Shevchenko, Weah, Zauli (Bologna).

Minutes / Games played

3060 minutes (34 games) ABBIATI
2657 minutes (32 games) GATTUSO
2443 minutes (30 games) KALADZE
2230 minutes (29 games) SHEVCHENKO
2083 minutes (27 games) SERGINHO
1923 minutes (29 games) CONTRA
1803 minutes (22 games) CHAMOT
1751 minutes (24 games) ALBERTINI
1750 minutes (21 games) COSTACURTA
1689 minutes (20 games) INZAGHI
1624 minutes (22 games) LAURSEN
1559 minutes (22 games) RUI COSTA
1277 minutes (15 games) MALDINI
1190 minutes (16 games) JOSÈ MARI
1077 minutes (15 games) HELVEG
1051 minutes (18 games) ROQUE JUNIOR
776 minutes (18 games) PIRLO
639 minutes (17 games) DONATI
594 minutes (9 games) AMBROSINI
563 minutes (10 games) UMIT
552 minutes (12 games) BROCCHI
491 minutes (16 games) JAVI MORENO
433 minutes (9 games) SIMONE
64 minutes (1 game) COCO
18 minutes (1 game) SARR
17 minutes (2 games) KUTUZOV
15 minutes (2 games) BA

6/5/2002 The day after .....

The Milan clan is ecstatic with the results obtained yesterday with the qualification to next years Champions League. All the comments pointed to the very unlucky season Milan had to pass through, suffering inumerous injuries to key players. Throught the season we missed for entire months the services of Ambrosini, Albertini, Rui Costa, Shevchenko, Maldini and Inzaghi apart from the usual Redondo. There were of course "other" normal injurues to Contra, Serginho and other players.

Training schedule

Milan's training schedule will restart on July 1st 2002. The team will commence pre-season in view of their Champions League preliminary round qualifier in mid-August.

American Tour

Perugia players Tedesco and Di Loreto will be joining Milan on their tour in the USA. The players will help make up the squad in view that most players will be joining their national teams for the World Cup in Japan/Korea.

5/5/2002 Milan in Champions League!!!

mm-------

-----13---- ----- - 0-

7' Kaladze (M), 44' Ambrosini (M), 49' Shevchenko (M)

MILAN (4-3-1-2): Abbiati; Contra, Chamot, Maldini, Kaladze; Gattuso (30’ st Donati), Ambrosini, Serginho (12’ st Rui Costa); Pirlo (22’ st Brocchi); Inzaghi, Shevchenko.
Subs: Fiori, Roque Junior, Ba, José Mari.

Manager: Ancelotti.

LECCE (3-4-3): Frezzolini; Juarez, Silvestri, Savino (44’ st Rizzo); Giorgetti (22’ st Billy), Superbi, Piangerelli, Sonetto; Giacomazzi; Vugrinec (30’ st Vucinic), Chevanton. Subs: Coqu, Colonnello, Conticchio.

Manager.: Rossi.
Subs: Coqu, Colonnello, Conticchio.

Arbitro: De Santis

Milan managed to do what remained the only valid target for an unluck season. Make it to the Champions League spot. Ancelotti did just that, by keeping himself tense until the final few minutes when Brescia scored their second goal giving Milan the fourth place.

Ancelotti fielded Abbiati in goal, with Contra, Kaladze, Chamot and Maldini as back four. In midfield Gattuso, Ambrosini, Serginho and Pirlo did the hard work for Inzaghi and Shevchenko to finish in attack.

Milan dominated the match from beginning to end creating a huge number of opportunities which were missed by Inzaghi who did not have the scoring touch today. In fact the first chance fell to inzaghi after only 17 seconds, but he failed miserably in front of an open goal, from a perfect Serginho cross. The first goal came from a cross which was intercepted by Kaladze into goal from only two metres out.

Milan continued to create numerous chances but missed them badly. Lecce managed to hit the post and this made Milan move forward again with Ancelotti wanting to close the match before the half ended. At this point Brescia went ahead and it was time for Milan to move in the the Champions league spot. Ambrosini did the job heading home another great Serginho cross just before half time.

At this point it was all over. With Milan leading 2-0 and in total control the packed stadium was more interested in the other stadiums then in what was happening before their eyes. News that Inter were losing and another two goals from Brescia kept the stadium alive. Brescia even managed a third and with Inter losing out on the title a great big party began at the San Siro. With all that happened during this season I would rather like to think of it as a positive one since Milan have prepared a good basis on which to build. Pirlo was voted Man of the Match.

4/5/2002 Coco returns ???

It is now official. Barcellona have not paid the transfer clause to keep Francesco Coco and thus the Italian winger / fullback is again a Milan player. Milan have also paid the fees due to get him back and therefore is considered to become a stalwart in Milan's team for next season. However, a final meeting is due on Monday to finalise the deal.

3/5/2002 Helveg to stay on

Milan have renewed Helveg's loan from Inter. The renewal has also already been deposited with the Italian Federation for Thomas helveg to stay on and form the Danish trio Tomasson, Helveg and Laursen.

Defender rumours

Maldini has already mentioned to the press that Milan's favourite right now is Bayer Leverkusen's Lucio. Captain Maldini stated that Lucio is a Milan class player. Other rumours state that Milan are concluding the transfer of Cannavaro from Parma and Beto of Sporting Lisbon.

1/5/2002 Milan present Tomasson

Milan today presented to the public their first acquisition for the next season. Feyenoord striker Jon Dahl Tomasson was presented to the press by Adraino Galliani at via Turati. The player was born on the 29th August 1976 is
182 cm with a weight of 79 kg. Galliani described the player as a very versatile forward who can score goals, can be an assist man and is very capable of opening up space for his fellow strikers.

Season	Club	Games	Goals
1994/95	SC Heerenveen	16	5
1995/96	SC Heerenveen	30	14
1996/97	SC Heerenveen	32	18
1997/98	Newcastle United	23	3
1998/99	Feyenoord	33	13
1999/00	Feyenoord	28	10
2000/01	Feyenoord	31	15
2001/02	Feyenoord	30	17
2002/03	Milan	-	-

Bjelanovic to Como

Como have finalised a deal to sign Sasha Bjelanovic from Varteks. It is rumoured that Milan are behind this deal since the striker was watched several times by Milan's scouts.