Nigel De Jong

Nigel De Jong was given the first starting opportunity for AC Milan in the Series A match against Atalanta which was played at Stadio Giuseppe Meazza.
The Dutch midfielder has joined Milan this summer. The deal was finalized on the last day of the pre season transfer window. Milan paid a transfer fee of 3.5 million Pounds to Manchester City for buying Jong.
However, Milan wasn’t able to secure victory against Atalanta. Massimiliano Allegri’s team disappointed the huge crowd that had turned to cheer for their team. The Milan team was supposed to register an easy win, but, that didn’t happen and the Atalanta players stunned Milan.
There was not even a single goal scored by the Milan team in the entire match. The Milan players had created some opportunities, but, it proved to be very difficult for them to go past the Atalanta goalkeeper, Andrea Consigli, who had stood in front of the goal post like a rock.

The Rossoneri had two opportunities to open the scoring in the first half. On the first occasion, Urby Emmanuelson passed the ball to Stephen El Sharaawy who played a powerful, flat shot, but, the placement was not there. Consigli just had to move a little to gather the ball and he stopped the ball easily.

Just a few minutes later, Milan had got another opportunity, but, again, it was Consigli who did a fine job for his team. He blocked the shot of Massimo Ambrosini. The ball came to Giampaolo Pazzini on the rebound, but, his shot was cleared by Thomas Manfredini and the chance went begging.

Atalanta took a lead of 1-0 in the 64th minute of the match. Luca Cigarini made full use of a well paced pass from German Denis and smashed the ball into the far corner of the net to score the first goal of the match.

The Milan team wasn’t able to score the equalizer in the remaining time and lost the match. This was the second defeat for Milan in the three Series A matches that the team has played in the current season so far.

AC Milan will play its next Series A match against Udinese on 23rd of September.

Manchester city midfielder Nigel de Jong has said that he is extremely happy with his current club and is not seeking a move elsewhere. However, the former Hamburg midfielder has said that he would be interested in moving away from the club if he was not given enough first-team opportunities. Nigel de Jong was a £ 17 million signing from Hamburg a few seasons ago. Even though he was a first team regular under the current manager Roberto Mancini, the arrival of the Ivory Coast international Yaya Touré has significantly reduced the amount of first-team opportunities for Nigel de Jong.

Due to the fact that he has only one season left on his current deal, there has been speculation that Manchester City will be looking to sell the player rather than allow him to leave on a free transfer next summer. German club Bayern Munich have been linked with the midfielder for the last couple of weeks, but they recently ruled out making a bid for the player. The player himself has now said that he is not interested in a move away from the club and is prepared to fight for his place. However, in the eventuality that he does not get any first-team opportunities, he is willing to go.

“I don’t want to talk about that at the moment. It’s not in my mind. I’m playing football and I’m happy here. I’m happy when I’m on the pitch and when I’m playing – football’s the most beautiful game in the world, and you have to enjoy every moment. Of course that’s what we all want, because that’s the way to go forward. We set ourselves the goal of taking it step by step. We won the FA Cup last year, then the Premier League last season, so the next thing is the Champions League,” said Nigel de Jong.

Manchester City midfielder Nigel de Jong has begun talks with Italian club Inter Milan over a proposed transfer before the start of the new season. The 27-year-old midfielder has been left out in the cold when manager Roberto Mancini, despite being a £ 18 million signing from Hamburg only a few seasons ago. The tough tackling midfielder has found it hard to get any first-team action due to the presence of Yaya Touré and Gareth Barry in front of him. In addition to this, he only has one year left on his current contract with the club.

As a result, instead of selling him on a free, Manchester city have decided to sell him. The Dutchman has begun talks with Inter Milan over a proposed move to Italy. It is thought that Manchester city will be willing to accept an offer of just £ 8 million for the midfielder, which means that they would have to forego £ 10 million on the transfer fee they paid for him back in 2009. Nigel de Jong will not be able to play in the Champions League next season if he moves to Inter Milan because the Italian club have missed out on the European football after finishing sixth in the league.

Inter Milan were the Champions of Europe only a few seasons ago, but after changing managers twice in the season, they could manage only a sixth place finish in the league. This coupled with a very aging squad means that they are looking to reduce the age of the squad by bringing in players like Nigel de Jong. The Dutchman has gone on a holiday after the elimination for Netherlands in the Euro 2012. Despite being one of the favourite teams, Netherlands lost all their three group games and finished bottom of their group.

German club Hamburg will be receiving a significant boost in the summer from the likes of Manchester city and Real Madrid. Hamburg sold players like Rafael van der Vaart, Nigel de Jong, and Vincent Kompany to the likes of Manchester city and Real Madrid many seasons ago.

Hamburg made the intelligent decision to include clauses within the contract that they would receive certain fee if the club’s won the domestic league titles in their respective countries. It has worked like magic this season after both Manchester City and Real Madrid have won their respective league titles.

This is the first league title for Manchester city, while it is the 32nd league title for Real Madrid. Even though Rafael van der Vaart was since sold to Tottenham two years ago, it is thought that the contract with Hamburg was valid for the full five years – the original contract length signed by the Dutchman when he moved to the Santiago Bernebeu. Nigel de Jong, who was £ 14.5 million signing from Hamburg in 2009, will help his former club earn around £ 200,000 in total alongside Vincent Kompany. The Belgian Centre back was a £ 7 million signing in 2008.

Hamburg have also made a sizeable profit on Dutch winger Eljero Elia after he was sold to Italian club Juventus. The club has just beaten AC Milan to the title in Italy, thus lifting their 28th league title in the history. This is by far the biggest windfall for Hamburg given that they will pocket around £ 500,000 due to the clause inserted into the contract when Dutch winger Eljero Elia was sold. In total, Hamburg will be getting around £ 1.6 million through these windfalls alone, which could be reinvested into the team in order to avoid a disappointing season as the current one.

Manchester City midfielder Nigel de Jong has said that Manchester City can be the future Kings of Europe. This statement comes after the win against Bayern Munich in the Champions League. Despite the win, Manchester City failed to progress to the last 16 of the Champions League after their rivals Napoli also won by a similar margin against Spanish club Villarreal. This meant that Manchester City had to be content with a place in the Europa League. Despite this, Nigel de Jong says that Manchester City can be one of the best clubs in Europe in the future.

There have been no doubt that Manchester City have the wealth like no other club in Europe and indeed the world. So far, their owners have ploughed in more than £ 1 billion to the club and there is more expected in the future as well. Even though they have failed to progress to the next stage of the Champions League, the prospect of Manchester City doing well next season is certainly high. One of the main reasons for this is because Manchester City will have the experience of having played in the Champions League once. Many attribute their failure this season due to the lack of experience in Europe.

We are not far off from challenging in the Champions League. We won’t be affected by the setback. We made a few mistakes. It’s all about experience and being consistent at this level. As a group we didn’t play in the Champions League until now, so this is a good experience,” said de Jong. Manchester City won their first title after 35 years last season when they lifted the FA Cup after beating Stoke City in the final. Nigel de Jong reckons that this will be the starting of many titles.