After capturing Carlos Bacca from Sevilla, Milan added another attacking ace to their line-up, in the form of Shakhtar’s Luiz Adriano. The signing is a clear statement of intent from the board, as they look to restore both pride and dignity to the San Siro, following two abysmal campaigns.
Rossoneri CEO Adriano Galliani had met with the Brazilian’s agent in Milan to thrash out an agreement on Thursday, with the 28-year-old’s contract set to expire at the end of the year. Milan have since confirmed that Luiz Adriano has penned a deal until June 30 2020 after accepting the terms on offer from the San Siro side, for a 8 Million Euros.
Luiz Adriano has signed the contract that will tie him to #ACMilan until June 30, 2020! #weareacmilan pic.twitter.com/tFCuESQ5ka
a AC Milan (@acmilan) July 2, 2015
Despite setting the Champions League a light with 9 goals, the Brazilian will have to contend with only League and Cup action while playing for the Rossoneri. He joins fellow teammate and countryman, Bernado Silva, who joined Bayern Munich on Tuesday, out of the Donbass Arena.
Despite being one of Europe’s biggest ‘feeder clubs’ Shaktar wished him nothing but the very best in his future endeavours. The club released a statement conveying the same
.@FCShakhtar_eng thanks @luizadriano9 for great years in our club, wishing good luck & beautiful wins at @acmilanhttp://t.co/9kKmVuirer a FC SHAKHTAR ENGLISH (@FCShakhtar_eng) July 3, 2015
The Porto Alegre native joined Shakhtar, from Internacional, in 2007. He has, since then, become the Ukranian club’s all-time leading goal-scorer, with 129 goals in 266 competitive appearances. His goals were integral to Shakhtar’s six consecutive Ukranian League titles, four Ukranian Cups and a solitary UEFA Cup title in 2008-09.
He has been the Ukranian league’s top scorer on four separate occasions, displaying consistency that most of his countrymen sorely lack. Adriano’s high point came in this season’s UEFA Champions League group stage, as he netted in a record equalling 9 goals in Group Stage competition, with an outstanding 5 goals against BATE Borisov . at the Donbass Arena.
Despite losing the likes of Willian, Fernandinho, Mkhitariyan and Douglas Costa in recent years, Mircea Lucescu has an uncanny habit of unearthing real attacking talent. While his departure will sadden the Shakhtar faithful, Lucescu will no doubt have an able replacement lined up.
In Adriano however, AC Milan have within their ranks a player that they have been sorely lacking- A consistent goalscorer With the failed experiments of Mario Balotelli, Alessio Cerci, Fernando Torres, to name just a few, the likes of Bacca and Adriano are more likely to give Milan an attacking edge which will be necessary to propel them back to Serie-A contention, as well as Champions League football.