(from acmilan.com's english page. their translation) link

MILAN - These, so far, are the official shirt numbers of the Rossoneri's first team, including the two young Uruguay footballers who on Monday became Milan players:

GOALKEEPERS: 1 Nelson Dida - 12 Christian Abbiati - 16 Zelijko Kalac

DEFENDERS: 3 Paolo Maldini - 2 Massimo Oddo - 4 Kakha Kaladze - 13 Alessandro Nesta - 15 Gianluca Zambrotta - 18 Marek Jankulovski - 19 Giuseppe Favalli - 25 Daniele Bonera - 36 Matteo Darmian - 77 Luca Antonini

MIDFIELDERS: 5 Emerson - 8 Rino Gattuso - 14 Mathias Cardacio - 21 Andrea Pirlo - 23 Massimo Ambrosini - 32 Cristian Brocchi - 84 Mathieu Flamini

ATTACKERS: 7 Alexandre Pato - 9 Filippo Inzaghi - 10 Clarence Seedorf - 11 Marco Borriello - 20 Tabarè Viudez - 22 Ricardo Kakà - 43 Alberto Paloschi - 80 Ronaldinho

Edited to reflect the departures of Digao and Simic.

So Viudez is the new Gourcuff. Or the new Seedorf maybe... Good either way. Takes stress of Kaka like Giancarlo mentioned. But he's an attacker. Heh heh!! I really think a double pivot mid-field will be in the offing this season.

On paper ... That looks like one hell of a roster. The perfect blend between experience and youth .. PLUS the quality of the World Class players ..

The weakest link, if I was to be a critic would be the defense .. Otherwise, this is a very good roster

i agre with r7, very good roster. I just wish we had a recall clause on gourcuff just in case the list of injuries increased.

I agree with the above, on paper it does look pretty damn good.

Only one quality CB lacking...

And one quality GK.

Of course. but with a strong defense, we can rely on Abbiati (/Dida) IMO.

i don't like these most of these number's they are wired like flamini antonini palo darmian and ronaldinho
but at least we made signings we are lucky enough for that

I, too, would have like #14 for Flamini for example, but numbers don't matter as long as they give their best on the pitch.

It is a very good roster and looks like a team that could challenge for the Scudetto and if we, as we suppossedly are, buying either Ivanovic from Chelsea or Thiago Silva from Fluminense our defense would have sufficient back up. I think the squad is easily strong enough to compete for the top place with Inter, Roma, Juve etc and if we get necessary recruits for defense we could go all the way. I don't think we desperately need a keeper as Abbiati has performed well so far in pre-season and we have Felipe coming in for next season from Santos. (We have apparently bought him but have put him on loan in Brazil for this season. Can anyone confirm that?)

Also for the upcoming season is Ancelotti using the Christmas Tree formation and if yes how will we fit both Pato and Borriello in the team? Other than that I think we have a roster that will suit the formation.

Any information on new boys Viudez or Cardacio?

Very little, chris. There's a bit of information in their respective threads in the player section. I know I saw Cardacio play last year for his NT but wasn't paying any particular attention. They do both seem to have promise though -- and given the jersey numbers they've got it would appear that neither are going on loan or to the primavera.

Cafu and Digao and Sergio out
Ronaldinho in

It's really good to see the number of Brazilians is balanced. now we have as many Brazilians as 'Argentinian' Inter; 5.

There was a time when they have an argie for every position except the Goali

I'm not usually much of a stats junkie but I've discovered that Gazzetta has little player information pages on every player in Serie A.

Below are Gazzetta's average player ratings for the Milan squad for last season. I've included ratings for players who were in Serie A last season but not at Milan (ie, Antonelli and Borriello).

1 Dida 5.81
2 Oddo 5.7
3 Maldini 6
4 Kaladze 6
5 Emerson 5.77
7 Pato 6.12
8 Gattuso 5.92
9 Inzaghi 6.15
10 Seedorf 6.02
11 Borriello 6.3
13 Nesta 6.24
16 Kalac 6.18
18 Jankulovski 5.65
19 Favalli 5.83
21 Pirlo 6.18
22 Kaka 6.33
23 Ambrosini 6.2
25 Bonera 6.03
32 Brocchi 5.94
43 Paloschi 6.2
77 Antonini 5.89

Ambro, Paloschi, Nesta & Boriello as the top 4. Sounds about right.

Antonini is having the old Coco number, right? I hope it brings him a bit more luck..

Huh? Where does that leave Kaka at 6.33 points average? As our best player, of course. The other four follow him.

Old Coco number = ?

Oops, missed him. Though I am surprised he got the highest rating, he was very average/injured for pretty much the whole season.


Coco was #77 in his time here.

I thought that too. But I guess even though Kaka played decently, he couldn't step up like he did last year. Now whether this was due to his injury or him being targeted by rival defenders is anyone's guess. But then again, a bad Kaka still averages as our best player.


Aha! That figures.

I'm not gonna disagree with that. what a shame though

OFFICAL NUMBERS


Goalkeepers: 1- Dida, 12- Abbiati, 16- Kalac.

Defenders: 2- Oddo, 3- Maldini, 4- Kaladze, 13- Nesta, 15- Zambrotta, 18- Jankulovski, 19- Favalli, 25- Bonera, 36- Darmian, 77- Antonini.

Midfielders: 5- Emerson, 8- Gattuso, 10- Seedorf, 14- Cardacio, 21- Pirlo, 23- Ambrosini, 32- Brocchi, 84- Flamini.

Forwards: 7- Pato, 9- F.Inzaghi, 11- Borriello, 20- Viudez, 22- Kaka, 43- Paloschi, 80- Ronaldinho, ?- Shevchenko.




SHEVA WILL BE DECIDED AFTER MEDICAL TOMORROW~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

MAGLIE - Come prima non sarà l’ingaggio di Andriy, mentre il numero di maglia potrebbe essere lo stesso. «Ne parleremo, magari il nostro bambino restituisce a Sheva il 7», butta lì con un sorriso Galliani. «Però non so se è giusto chiederlo». Pato (che aveva mandato la sua cartolina da Pechino nei giorni scorsi: «Se la società me lo chiede, sono pronto a cambiare numero. Sheva ha fatto la storia del Milan») ieri non si è sbilanciato: «Vedremo, ne parleremo». E lui ne avrà di tempo per quella maglia, ma non sarà l’ucraino a chiedere di poterla infilare come nuova: «Pato ha detto che mi lascerebbe il numero sette? E’ bello da parte sua, ma per me andrebbero bene anche il 76, o il 70, o il 77. Basta che ci sia un sette in mezzo e che sia una maglia del Milan». E poi magari ci vorranno un gol e un altro bacio, l’importante è ricominciare.

this is from gazzeta can someone tranlsate it is about number for sheva

TENNNNIIIEEEEEEEEE!!!


We have less depth than Milan. We need a Tennie replacement.

basically what its saying is that galliani might ask pato to switch numbers and sheva might get 7 again. Furthermore pato has sent a post card from the olympics saying to the team that he would switch numbers if asked and he talks about how sheva is a legend and he looks up to him etc and would want him to get his old number back. Also on the other note sheva said he would take 70/77/76 because hes attached somewhat to the number 7 now because in milan it has special meaning for him. He said he would kiss on the badge and score a goal and do a formal appology to the fans as if he is a new signing and it would be like a new experience for him and the fans.

I dont know how some of you feel about him kissing our badge again but i would welcome it. Sheva is a part of us all and we cannot ignore what he has done. I mean i became a fan of milan because of him.


anyways thats the basics let tennie give you correct details. My italian is basic only.

Sheva 7. Pato change now plz.

Ok..now you're gonna get killed.

He won't get 7 for sure. Perhaps, he'll take 76..going with the whole 'year of birth' fad, that our new recruits have adopted.

[JERSEY- The jersey issue could be the same as Andriy's contract (ie, no hard news yet). "We'll talk, maybe our child will give Sheva the 7," said Galliani with a smile. "Because it's not right to ask him to." Pato (who sent a postcard from Peking in previous days: 'If the club asks me, I'm ready to change numbers. Sheva has made history with Milan.') yesterday wasn't so sure: "We'll see, we'll talk about it." And he who hasn't had the jersey for a time, but it won't be the Ukrainian to ask for it: "Pato has said he'd give me the number 7? It's nice on is part, but for me I'd be happy with 76, or 70, or 77. It's enough that there's a 7 in there and that it's a Milan jersey." And then maybe we'll see a goal and another kiss, the important thing is to recommence.]

That's it, more or less. Sorry, still a bit sleepy.

I'd give him 7 **** in the head...

If he really takes away the 7 from Pato,... it would be a new low even for him. And it would be totally Milan-unlike.

He should up and take another number really! What a shame...

Sheva needs to act like a human being and reject #7 even if Pato offered to give up on it. I can't believe this sh1t... those who think Sheva shouldn't get the armband, I assure you, he will definitely get it!

If he gets either no.7 or the armband Milan will be a big fat joke! He does not deserve any of that cause he has not been loyal to Milan, period!
If I was a Milan player I would be totally against it!

What would you do? Score own goals??

I'd call Jack Sparrow and take over Milanello!

We don't know anything about jersey numbers yet. Shevchenko's comments quoted above were actually rather modest, I thought. If, however, he turns into a teacher's pet and gets his way in everything...fishdoll will be displeased.

I think Sheva will follow the trends of Dinho and Flamini and take #76. The last thing he'll want to do is cause any more controversy with his move back. Its a new chapter anyway, so a new number is definitely the right way to go. At least we have the best #76, #80 and #84 in the world!

..grrh,...I don't like that "above 40" number trend we're building..

+1. It's depressing. Personally I wouldn't go much over 23 (for famous players that is). 32 is pushing it a bit, but this is absolutely ridiculous. Almost like having three figure numbers, like 192. Random stuff.

^^

Dunno...I always played with number 47. I used to act, high and mighty and say stuff like it was related to 1947 ( Yeah right!!)...and that it added up to my lucky number....but I just liked the game a lot. Hitman:Codename 47.

I've always liked 23 myself, and liked 87 since it' my birth year. But my football team said they wouldn't let us have numbers though high so I just went with 8!

kurt is younger than me, by a year. You have still a lot to learn about the workings of the world, young one..

I'm not a year younger than you. You are a year older than me, old man.

They considered 23 to be high?

No, 23 was one of the designated keeper shirts. 87 was too high.

I may take up Italian lessons next year. I've always been fascinated learning new languages, and what better (and easier) language to start with than Italian? Not to mention it'll add a bit of a depth to Milanfan.

Guys, there ARE other people who can translate Italian. Porty, for example, is probably better at it than I am.

Porty?

He's the Seedorf of Milanfan. He turns up when he wants to, with a translation. 10ie, you're more or less our Pirlo, there is no one in the team who can do what you do...

Of course there are, Ten. But you never can have too many of them on a website with 'Milan' in the URL.