Milan goalkeepers: not just Vasquez, Rico’s idea

For Devis Vasquez it was love at first sight: he landed in Italy at the 2017 Viareggio Tournament and fell in love with it instantly. Equally swift was the negotiation that brought him from Guaranì, a Paraguayan club, to AC Milan: a closed deal for 500,000 dollars (about 470,000 euros), of which “250,000 to Guaranì and 250,000 to the player”, as explained by Emilio Daher, president of the Asuncion team. Yesterday the signing of the contract that will bind him to Milan. And now it’s up to Vasquez to strike the spark with the Devil and with the fans, hierarchies and market permitting. Because it didn’t end here: Maldini and Massara are working to give Pioli another goalkeeper and the name of Sportiello, booked for the summer, has been joined by that of Sergio Rico, a Spaniard from PSG closed by Donnarumma and Navas. Contacts started, the deal can be closed on loan.

STUDIO

—

Vasquez will be in Milan in about ten days at the most: the 24-year-old Colombian will leave for Asuncion today and – once the last bureaucratic steps have been completed – he will return to Italy. The passion for our country, as mentioned, started 5 years ago, when Devis was a promising 19-year-old from Cortulua. Since then he has started studying the language, self-taught: lots of Italian music (the lyrics of the songs by Laura Pausini and Eros Ramazzotti, very famous in South America, have served as a grammar manual) and then readings on the web.

When yesterday he showed up at the La Madonnina clinic to undergo medical examinations, he showed off a red and black smartphone: on the screensaver the photo of the shirt celebrating the last championship, the one with the motto “It only happens to those who believe in it” embroidered on the chest . Vasquez will be the sixth Colombian in the history of Milan: his compatriots have played in defense (Yepes, Zapata, Vergara), on the wing (Armero) and in attack (Bacca), never anyone in goal. Vasquez is from Barranquilla, the city where Bacca was a bus inspector to help his father, but his idol is Yepes, a Scudetto and a Super Cup together with Ibra in Allegri’s time: Mario wore the 76, Devis chose the 77 On the other hand, the 14 of Bakayoko, sought by Galatasaray, could be freed.