Shevchenko signs with Milan; payout is sixth highest in soccer history (07/11/99)

Shevchenko signs with Milan; payout is sixth highest in soccer history

by Andrij Kudla Wynnyckyj
Toronto Press Bureau

TORONTO - Andrii Shevchenko, the 22-year old who has electrified the soccer world with his brilliant scoring touch and playmaking over the past two years, leading Kyiv Dynamo into the European Cup playoffs twice and into this year's semi-finals, on July 1 signed a contract with one of the world's wealthiest and most prestigious teams, AC Milan of Italy.

On July 2, Reuters quoted Dynamo spokesman Alexei Semenenko as saying: "The deal was done yesterday and from that day on Andriy is a property of AC Milan."

As reported in The Weekly, the deal between the two clubs was in the works for several months, and the sum of the contract, $25 million U.S. (40 billion Italian lire) to be paid over five years, is the largest ever offered to a player from the former Soviet Union, and the sixth largest in soccer history.

Hryhorii Surkis, owner and president of Kyiv Dynamo, traveled with Mr. Shevchenko to Geneva for the European Cup draw on June 30 and the two men were scheduled to fly to Milan later in the day to ink the arrangement.

In Milan, Mr. Shevchenko was quoted by Corrierre dello Sport: "The first time I came here and looked at all these cups, I said to myself: 'My God, what a team I've joined!' "

The forward added: "I was in San Siro eight years ago to see Milan, I was a boy and I asked myself if I'd never come back. After 13 years in Dynamo I cannot forget my former team, [Coach Valerii] Lobanovsky, and my country. But I have found a new family here... [In Milan] everything is impressive, from playing fields to organization."

According to the Ukrainian Football website (http://www.physics.rutgers.edu/~myckola/report.html), Lubov Shevchenko, his mother, was quoted as saying: "[Andriy was always a] lively boy, often forced to me to raise my voice and sometimes also a stick."

On July 2, a reporter for La Gazzetta Dello Sport wrote: "Shevchenko was received like a prima donna," reporting that the striker had already joined his new teammates in Sardinia, and had begun training at the field of Arzachena, few kilometers from Costa Smeralda.

The Italian reporter added: "He knows that things will not always be easy, as they are now: there will be tough days, maybe criticism, depending on results. But for now he works very hard and in the first test matches, 4 against 4 in the Arzaghena playing field, in front of many, many fans, he is playing 'real' matches, never giving up and showing his first high-class shots ... The fans are enthusiastic and start dreaming ..."

The mood in Ukraine is not likely to be as buoyant. Mr. Shevchenko was a crucial element in Kyiv Dynamo's ascendancy to third in the European rankings this year, and in tandem with Serhii Rebrov knocked off last-year's European champions Real Madrid with his scoring touch.

Mr. Shevchenko will continue to play with the Ukrainian national team.

| Home Page |