OFFICIAL: Massimo Ambrosini Signs One-Year Extension With Milan

Milan captain Massimo Ambrosini has agreed to take his Rossoneri career after signing a new deal…

Massimo Ambrosini will spend a 17th season with Milan after agreeing to extend his contract with the Serie A runners-up until June 2013.

In a week in which several club veterans such as Alessandro Nesta, Filippo Inzaghi, Gennaro Gattuso and Gianluca Zambrotta announced their decision to leave the Rossoneri, Ambrosini, the Milan captain, has bucked the trend by opting to stay on.

The midfielder, who turns 35 on 29 May, joined the Diavolo from Cesena in 1995 and has remained with the Italian giants ever since, with the exception of the 1997/98 season, which was spent on loan at Vicenza Calcio.

Capped 35 times by Italy, Ambrosini has enjoyed a glittering career, winning the Champions League twice, the Scudetto four times and the Coppa Italia on one occasion. He has scored 29 goals in 324 league appearances for the seven-time European club champions.

Milan, who reached the UEFA Champions League quarter-finals this season, will return to group stage of next season’s edition after finishing second in Serie A, with the help of Ambrosini’s 22 appearances and one league goal.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic To Be Named New Milan’s Captain, After Rumors Of Possible Departure?

Ibra will be given captain’s armband in order to stay…

According to few Italian sources, the Ibrahimovic saga is going on and off, warm and cold.

Rumors about a transfer were in the air. The relationship between Zlatan Ibrahimovic and the club is making news. Will he stay or will he go? Between one rumour and another, official statements and press releases, communications are constant and sometimes contradictory. It all began with ANSA’s press shot earlier this afternoon.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s future in a red and black shirt has become more complicated as rumours of a possible transfer are spreading. According to ANSA, Milan coach Allegri and Adriano Galliani told Silvio Berlusconi of an “intollerable situation” regarding the player. This all came to light at a dinner when the trio met at Arcore on Friday evening, to discuss the transfer market.

According to La Gazzetta dello Sport, during the meeting the managing director and the coach described a situation regarding the player who was becoming impossible to manage to the Rossoneri owner. The Swedish champion was said to be no longer on speaking terms with the coach and was responsible for squabbles and bickering in the Milan changing rooms.

There would now seem to be problems getting along with team-mates. Added to an effort on the pitch which could not be considered exceptional. Milan CEO Galliani and boss Allegri are said to have asked Berlusconi to consider selling the player, bringing his age into question as well: Ibrahimovic is 30 and this would be the right time to change clubs.

Berlusconi, according to these sources, would seem to be against selling the player and gave the managing director the go-ahead to sound out the situation and find out if the problems in behaviour could be resolved or if they risk endangering the atmosphere in the dressing room.

Milan plan to sell Italy’s top scorer and use the the money to lure Manchester City’s duo Mario Balotelli and Carlos Tevez. However, Tuttosport reports that the Swede will takeover the captain’s armband next term in order to stay at Milan.

Also Milan, through their press office, have denied that there are any problems between the Sweden international and coach Allegri; they are “groundless and untrue.”

Milan’s Thiago Silva Linked With Move To Manchester City, Mario Balotelli Could Go Other Way

Silva may move to Manchester City and Balotelli to Milan…

Milan’s Thiago Silva has been linked with a transfer all season, the destination most rumoured has been Barcelona but now others have been brought into the picture. Milan are only interested in who offers them the biggest fee and Barcelona are becoming notorious for using a player’s desire to join them to keep transfer costs down.

That wouldn’t suit the Serie A side who are more interested in an auction. Corriere dello Sport say that the clubs interested in the Brazilian defender are Barcelona, Manchester City, PSG and Real Madrid. They hope that playing them off against each other would result in a transfer fee of around €30 m, enabling them to purchase a striker.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic wants a new strike partner and CdS say that the Swedish forward was so upset at not winning a league title this year, something he’s used to taking for granted, that he spent 2 hours having a dressing room meeting with CEO Galliani in the San Siro on Sunday.

He’s been promised a new strike buddy and the two names put forward are Mario Balotelli and Carlos Tevez. Balotelli played for Inter Milan but it’s the red side of the city he supports and has said in the past he’d like to represent them one day, his girlfriend lives in Milan and they are due to get married this summer – it would be odd for them them to live so far apart.

Way back in 2012 Balotelli was quoted by the Daily Mail as saying “One day I will return and play with Ibrahimovic. I don’t know in which shirt it will be but I know it will happen.”

The compliment was returned by Ibra who said “He asked me to come and play with him at City but I think Mario one day will ask to come and play here. We shall have to watch this space.”

Carlos Tevez managed to get himself in trouble last night by holding a sign that was insulting towards Sir Alex Ferguson, something the club have had to apologise for. Last summer he was pictured with Galliani and it had been thought a move to Milan was imminent. It would be no shock if those rumours start again.

Balotelli could be seen as the better option, he may be described as “mad cap” but there’s the possibility he can grow out of it, 28 year old Carlos Tevez may be past that.

OFFICIAL: Midfielder Mark Van Bommel Leaves Milan & Rejoins PSV

Netherlands captain van Bommel has left Milan and has returned to former club PSV…

Mark Van Bommel has completed his much-expected transfer from Milan to PSV Eindhoven, signing a one-year deal with the Dutch side.

The Dutch midfielder, a popular figure at the club following a successful first stint, announced last week that he was leaving Milan to return to his former employers.

And they have backed that up by releasing a statement on their official website that read: “Mark van Bommel signed a one-year deal on Monday.

“He previously played in Eindhoven between 1999 and 2005. He was a champion four times.”

Van Bommel, who joined Milan from Bayern Munich in January 2011, becomes the fourth player to announce his departure from the club this week, following striker Filippo Inzaghi, midfielder Gennaro Gattuso and defender Alessandro Nesta.

“That’s life, and there comes a time when you have to leave. When I came here everyone told me that this club was like a family, and it’s true. It is like that,” Van Bommel said.

The midfielder played for PSV from 1999 to 2005 before joining Barcelona where he won the title and Champions League.

With the Rossoneri’s campaign now ended, the 35-year-old tough-tackling midfielder won a Scudetto and Supercoppa Italiana with Milan in an 18-month spell.

THANK YOU FOR EVERYTHING & GOOD LUCK, MARK!

Fiorentina’s Riccardo Montolivo Set For Milan Switch

Montolivo to officially become Milan player this week…

Fiorentina’s Riccardo Montolivo will sign a contract with Milan by the end of this week, says the Gazzetta dello Sport.

The newspaper suggests that the 27-year-old will put pen to paper on a Rossoneri deal at some point on Wednesday.

The midfielder, available on a Bosman free transfer given his expiring deal in Florence, will spend the next two days at Coverciano after being named in Italy’s 32-man Euro 2012 squad.

He’ll then travel to Milan in midweek for his medical. It’s understood that he’s been offered a four-year contract worth a basic €2.7 million a season.

Montolivo, who has turned down numerous offers from the Viola to renew his Tuscan terms, has scored four goals in 30 League games during this campaign.

He joined the Florence outfit in 2005 after emerging through Atalanta’s youth system.

OFFICIAL: Dutch Maestro Mark Van Bommel To Leave Milan For PSV + VIDEO

The midfielder is the latest player to leave Milan for his motherland…

Mark van Bommel has also announced he’s leaving Milan this summer for a return to PSV Eindhoven. “Maybe one day I’ll return as a Coach.”

The Dutchman is following in the footsteps of Alessandro Nesta, Gennaro Gattuso and Pippo Inzaghi in walking away from San Siro when his contract expires.

“I am leaving Milan and going back to Holland,” he told Sky Sport Italia.

“Life is like that, at a certain point you have to move on. When I arrived here, everyone told me this club was like a family. I have to say, it was all true.”

He has already played his last game in a Milan jersey, as he is injured and therefore unavailable for Sunday’s match with Novara.

Van Bommel has enjoyed a successful period in Milan, claiming the Serie A title last season and it is believed the club offered him a new deal for the 2012-13 campaign worth €2 million.

However, the defensive midfielder has opted to rejoin the side he made his name at, previously representing PSV between 1999 and 2005.

In a successful career now spanning 20 years, Van Bommel has also represented Fortuna Sittard and Barcelona.

OFFICIAL: Veterans Gennaro Gattuso & Filippo Inzaghi To Leave Milan; Only Mario Yepes Pens New Deal

Only Yepes has been awarded the extension, Pippo and Rino to say goodbye…

Gennaro Gattuso and Filippo Inzaghi have decided to leave Milan, signaling the end of an era a day after Alessandro Nesta also bid goodbye to the Rossoneri.

Both players have expiring contracts with Milan and have been allowed to leave after a season in which they featured infrequently.

Gattuso, who joined Milan from Salernitana in 1999, has made only six appearances this season after a serious eye problem forced him to spend several months on the sidelines.

After meeting with Milan vice president Adriano Galliani, the 34-year-old Gattuso announced, “It’s time to move aside and leave space to others.  I’ll go away for a year and then we’ll see.

“I will explain everything at a press conference on Saturday. I do not know yet where I will go, I have not yet decided.”

Meanwhile, the 38-year-old Inzaghi wrote a long letter posted on Milan’s website saying “Thank you Milan, thank you football,” indicating that Sunday’s season finale against Novara could be the final game of his career.

Inzaghi has been at Milan since 2001, when he joined the club from Juventus in a  €37 million deal, scoring 125 goals in 296 appearances for the club.

He has only made eight appearances to date in 2011/12, with his brother, Simone, revealing the Milan ace will not retire from football just yet.

“Today I would like to thank with affection and emotion President Berlusconi and Adriano Galliani,” Inzaghi said in an open letter published on Milan’s website.

“Their electricity and their ability to transmit emotion for me made me stronger and pushed me beyond any and all limits.

“But I also want to give a thought to those who, from the youth sector to all the wonderful clubs that I’ve played for, helped me to become the man and the player that I am today.

“Thank you Milan, thank you football. Allow me to call you my own, the people of Via Turati, from Milanello to the offices to the phone operators to the warehouse workers, the physiotherapists, the doctors, the cooks, from the stadium to the changing room.

“All the people who saw me on Sunday with the short sleeves and shook with the hope that I would score.

“Goodbye Carlo Ancelotti, I won a lot with you, ciao to my wonderful fans who followed me the world over with affection and passion. Ciao to my team mates from today and yesterday.”

However, Yepes has signed a new one-year deal with Milan, the club announced on Friday.

The 36-year-old’s previous contract expired at the end of the season, and he has now extended his stay at San Siro until the summer of 2013.

Yepes, who signed for Milan in 2010 on a free transfer, has made 10 competitive appearances in 2011-12.

More players could join the Milan exodus in the next few days, with six others having expiring contracts.

THANK YOU FOR EVERYTHING, PIPPO & RINO & FAREWELL!