Pato the Duck
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It was a long drawn race to signed Alexandre Pato and it came to an end with AC Milan finally paid his buy-out clause of €22 million.
He was considered as a replacement for departure of former Milan hitman Andriy Shevchenko.
There is no doubt about his talent but the pressure on him beyond his imagination.
Born as Alexandre Rodrigues da Silva, he nicknamed Alexandre Pato or Alex the Duck, after the city where he was born.
Just like other Brazilian superstars Pato developed his skill by playing futsal.
He played for Internacional both the youth and senior teams between 2001 and 2007, and became part of the Brazil squad that won the South American Under-20 Championship.
There was an urgent situation in Milan, with no Shevchenko upfront and string of problems on their strikers.
Filippo Inzaghi and Ronaldo were having their injuries problem, they even more often to appeared in the MilanLab rather on the pitch. Alberto Gilardino played inconsistently and Ricardo Oliveira were being loaned to Real Zaragoza.
Thus Milan sent their former player and Brazilian scouting specialist, Leonardo, to looking at Pato and bring the Brazilian prodigy to Milanello.
However, due to Italian football regulations regarding non-EU minors, Pato was unable to play official matches for Milan until January 3, 2008, when the Italian transfer window and registration reopened.
But the Rossoneri was allowed to include him in friendly matches and training beginning September 3, 2007, one day after his 18th birthday.
Pato has a great records about debuts which he always scores on his debut.
He scored a goal against Palmeiras on his debut with Internacional in Brazil, then he scored both on his non-competitive debut with Milan against Dynamo Kiev, and also his official Serie A match against Napoli.
Not only that, he scored on his debut with the Brazilian national team as well, taking Pelé's record as youngest scorer in the history of official FIFA competitions (17 years and 102 days, against Pelé's 17 years and 239 in the 1958 FIFA World Cup against Wales), when scored in the 2006 FIFA Club World Cup semi-final game against Al-Ahly.
Full name: Alexandre Rodrigues da Silva
Date of birth: September 02, 1989
Birthplace: Pato Branco, Paraná, Brazil
Nationality: Brazilian
Height: 1.79 m
Weight: 71 kg
Position: Striker
Club: AC Milan
Honours :
FIFA Club World Cup (2006)
Recopa Sudamericana (2007)
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Team
Personal
Also see:
He was considered as a replacement for departure of former Milan hitman Andriy Shevchenko.
There is no doubt about his talent but the pressure on him beyond his imagination.
Born as Alexandre Rodrigues da Silva, he nicknamed Alexandre Pato or Alex the Duck, after the city where he was born.
Just like other Brazilian superstars Pato developed his skill by playing futsal.
He played for Internacional both the youth and senior teams between 2001 and 2007, and became part of the Brazil squad that won the South American Under-20 Championship.
There was an urgent situation in Milan, with no Shevchenko upfront and string of problems on their strikers.
Filippo Inzaghi and Ronaldo were having their injuries problem, they even more often to appeared in the MilanLab rather on the pitch. Alberto Gilardino played inconsistently and Ricardo Oliveira were being loaned to Real Zaragoza.
Thus Milan sent their former player and Brazilian scouting specialist, Leonardo, to looking at Pato and bring the Brazilian prodigy to Milanello.
However, due to Italian football regulations regarding non-EU minors, Pato was unable to play official matches for Milan until January 3, 2008, when the Italian transfer window and registration reopened.
But the Rossoneri was allowed to include him in friendly matches and training beginning September 3, 2007, one day after his 18th birthday.
Pato has a great records about debuts which he always scores on his debut.
He scored a goal against Palmeiras on his debut with Internacional in Brazil, then he scored both on his non-competitive debut with Milan against Dynamo Kiev, and also his official Serie A match against Napoli.
Not only that, he scored on his debut with the Brazilian national team as well, taking Pelé's record as youngest scorer in the history of official FIFA competitions (17 years and 102 days, against Pelé's 17 years and 239 in the 1958 FIFA World Cup against Wales), when scored in the 2006 FIFA Club World Cup semi-final game against Al-Ahly.
Full name: Alexandre Rodrigues da Silva
Date of birth: September 02, 1989
Birthplace: Pato Branco, Paraná, Brazil
Nationality: Brazilian
Height: 1.79 m
Weight: 71 kg
Position: Striker
Club: AC Milan
Honours :
FIFA Club World Cup (2006)
Recopa Sudamericana (2007)
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Related links:
Team
Personal
Also see:
http://chelseafcchampions.blogspot.com