AN EXCEPTIONAL PRESENTATION
8/30/2008 8:18:00 PM
"The return of the player who has scored the most goals in the last fifty years for Milan and a defender with certain characteristics," said Adriano Galliani as he talked about the arrivals of Sheva and Senderos to Milanello.
(on the photo: MILANELLO 30 AUGUST: SHEVA, ADRIANO GALLIANI, SENDEROS)
MILANELLO - Here are the declarations made today by Adriano Galliani, Philippe Senderos and Andriy Shevchenko, during the course of the press conference to present the arrival of the two new Rossoneri. During the press conference, the Delegate Administrator also announced the shirt numbers of the two players: Andriy will wear the number 76 shirt, while Senderos will wear the number 24 shirt.
Adriano Galliani:
"Shevchenko and Senderos are two players we strongly wanted. It's never easy to negotiate with English clubs, not only because of the language, but we still managed to bring them here.
Andriy is the player who has scored the most goals for Milan in the last fifty years, he's always remained in our hearts, and we have remained in Andriy's heart.
Senderos, meanwhile, was chosen because we wanted a player with certain characteristics, technical and athletic, like Stam to be clear, and we hope that Senderos will do as well as Stam did.
In this transfer campaign there were ten new arrivals and eleven players who left. It was the biggest transfer campaign, to which we have to add all the co-ownership deals and loans. On the Monday following the last championship we already started to think about what we would do because the fact Milan would play in the Uefa Cup motivated us even more, giving us an extra incentive. That's why we ended up having a great transfer campaign.
We believe this team ought to compete for the Scudetto, this is the objective we have given the coach. Last season the objective was to win the Club World Cup and become the most title-winning club in the world, and we did. Tomorrow our tour of Italy begins and it will be divided in 38 stops. On paper this Milan team looks extraordinary, with three Golden Ball winners. Everything we have done in these 23 years was done on the basis of feeling, our motto has always been to win by playing well. This is the philosophy of president Berlusconi and I think it's always been respected because even when we didn't win we always played well.
I thank president Berlusconi for never forgetting to show his affection for this team and if he hadn't had business elsewhere due to his role as Prime Minister, he would have followed the team's training and would have had dinner with the players. Silvio Berlusconi maintained his promises and it's too bad that some fans showed too much nervousness, but sometimes there should be more faith in the president, who kept all his promises."
Andriy Shevchenko:
"It had been said that here I was treated as a prince, but that's not true. Also here I went through difficult times which I got through by working hard and making sacrifices. At the moment I am very optimistic because coming back to Milan is like coming back home for me.
The last six months have been hard for me also because of my injuries and now I really want to play, make sacrifices, and train with this shirt.
At the moment the most important thing for me is starting to play because I haven't been playing for six months. My condition is fine, physically I am doing well and I think I can give a lot to Milan. In my first year with Mourinho I scored 14 goals and also made some assists, here I hope to play, but I am available to the coach and his choices. I know perfectly well the fans have criticised my choices in the past and I also know it will be tough to regain their trust, but my choice was made with the heart. I could not return to Italy to a team that wasn't Milan. It will be tough to win back the fans, but I will give everything and I will give my best.
When I was with Chelsea what I missed the most was the organisation, the preparation, the environment of this club, a lot of small things that are nevertheless important. When I left Milan it was really hard for me. Now I want to turn the page and think only about the present and the future without looking back, I am concentrated to do well here. I have learned a lot from this experience."
Philippe Senderos:
"I am very happy to be here and happy to be given this chance by the club, I want to repay this trust on the pitch. Arsenal are a great team, but Milan are the best team in the world.
My first impression is very good, this is a great club and I want to stay here a long time. Compared to the English league, the players in Italy work harder. The English league is more physical while the Italian one is more tactical, and personally I have to work hard to reach this level."