SIX THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT MALICK THIAW

The Rossoneri's defence has been reinforced in recent days with the arrival of Malick Thiaw at Milanello: 21 years and just a few weeks old, the new Milan defender comes from Schalke 04, after promotion to the Bundesliga at the end of last season. Despite his young age, the Düsseldorf native's career serves up some interesting facts. Here are six of them:

RUNS IN THE FAMILY
Football plays an important role in the family of the new Rossoneri player: his father, Senegalese by birth, was a goalkeeper. Before moving to central defence, our new number 28 started out as a central midfielder, a tendency he has retained by sometimes slotting into midfield.  

BECOMING NUMBER FIVE
Malick Thiaw is the fifth German player to wear the AC Milan shirt and the first to join the Rossoneri in the 21st century: before him, Karl-Heinz Schnellinger, Christian Ziege, Oliver Bierhoff and Jens Lehmann. The latter two, who both unusually arrived in 1998, helped AC Milan with the Scudetto. 

EUROPEAN UNDER 21
Today Malick plays a key role in the Germany Under 21 team. After being part of the squad, then European champions, in the 2021 Euros group, the new Rossoneri defender made eight appearances in the 2023 European Championship qualifiers, also scoring against Latvia and San Marino.

ALMOST FINLAND
Before opting for Germany, Thiaw had the chance to make his debut with the youth team of Finland, his mother's native country: in 2017 he was called up for the Finnish Under-17 team, declining in favour of the national team of his own home country.

SOMEWHERE BETWEEN YAYA AND MATIP
Malick eventually established himself as a defender, but his idol is a (former) great midfielder: Yaya Touré, European champion in 2009 with Barcelona. In Germany, Thiaw has also been compared to two colossal defenders: Sergio Ramos and Joël Matip, who had a very long career at Schalke 04 before joining Liverpool in 2016. Thiaw also shares his birthday with the Reds defender, 8 August. 

FROM THE BOTTOM TO THE TOP
Thiaw's professional debut came on 7 March 2020, in the Bundesliga match between Schalke and Hoffenheim. He made four appearances in 2019/20 and 19 the following season (with his first goal on 30 October 2020 against Stuttgart), the one that culminated in their unfortunate relegation to the 2.Bundesliga. Malick was, however, a major player in the year of his club's immediate rise to the top flight, with 31 appearances and two goals.

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