Profile Andrea Pirlo (Juventus)

ANDREA PIRLO

After 3 seasons on the Internazionale books, Pirlo was sold to fierce rivals, Fatih Terim's Milan for 35 billion Italian lire^[7] (about €18 million) but part of the fees paid via Dražen Brnčić joining Inter. That transfer windows the two clubs has also swapped Cristian Brocchi for Guly; Paolo Ginestra for Matteo Bogani. The deals later reported by press were also aimed to create "false profit" by inflating the transfer fees in the swap deal, which Ginestra and Bogani both created €3.5million "profit" for both clubs but in terms of registration rights, while Brnčić created a lurid €9.6 million gain.^[8][9]

It was at Milan where he found his true strides developing into a world class player. With Milan, he won two Scudetto and two Champions League titles. He also won an Italian Cup and two UEFA Super Cups with Milan in 2003 and 2007. However, his most forgettable incident was the penalty miss during2005 UEFA Champions League Final, as he found his spot kick was saved by Jerzy Dudek.

Pirlo started his career as an offensive midfielder until coach Carlo Ancelotti developed for him a deep-seated playmaking role at Milan. Since then, he has formed a formidable partnership with Gennaro Gattuso in the midfield and has earned the nickname "the metronome" for the way he sets the team's rhythm.^[10] He led Serie A in the 2002–03 season in four special categories, passes played (2589), ball possession (123 hours played and 39 minutes), successful balls (661) and successful passes (2093). This implies that he averaged almost 90 passes per game. He led Milan in minutes played for the 2006–07 season with 2,782. In October 2007, he was nominated for the 2007 FIFA World Player of the Year Award but it went to Milan teammate Kakáinstead. After Kaká and coach Carlo Ancelotti left Milan in the summer of 2009, Chelsea tested Milan's resolve by bidding $12m and Claudio Pizarro for Pirlo. The club rejected the offer and Pirlo was said to be contemplating a transfer request.^{[citation needed]} On 5 August, Berlusconi decided not to sell Pirlo who said he was overjoyed and wanted to end his career at Milan.^[11] On 21 October 2009, Pirlo scored a brilliant 30 meter goal in Milan's 3–2 win over Real Madrid.

On 2 October 2010, Pirlo scored a brilliant 40-yard goal against Parma to give Milan their first away win of the 2010–11 season. The shot was going 84 kilometres per hour.

On 18 May, 2011, Pirlo confirmed that he would be leaving Milan at the end of the 2010-11 season, after a mutual decision not to renew his contract.

Juventus

Juventus have announced that they have signed midfielder Andrea Pirlo as a free agent on a contract that will last until 2014. “The contract signed is from July 1, 2011 until June 30, 2014.”^[13]