Simon Kjaer revealed his pride after being given an award by the AC Milan management for reaching 100 appearances for the club during the win over Hellas Verona.
Kjaer joined Milan on an initial loan from Sevilla halfway through the 2019-20 season and quickly established himself as a leader thanks to his experience, helping a young team through a difficult campaign.
His 100th game came during the 1-0 win over Verona at the weekend and he was given an award at Milanello yesterday, which he reacted to.
“Thank you all so much. A few days ago I was talking to my dad. I arrived in Italy at 19 years old, at Palermo. My dream has always been to play for Milan and now I’m here,” he said.
“Every day when I travel the Milan-Milanello route it always seems like a special road, and I am very proud to be here, especially with all of you. It was a dream and continues to be a dream today. Thank you all!”
🗣️ With pride in his heart 🔴⚫
Kudos, @simonkjaer1989 🇩🇰🛡️#SempreMilan pic.twitter.com/ARgPrfXBXn— AC Milan (@acmilan) September 26, 2023
For anyone potentially questioning the sincerity of his words i can as a dane remember an old interview predating his arrival to ac milan where he actually said it had always been his dream to play for ac milan. Ive followed him since his days in midtjylland in the danish super liga and already back then hoped we would sign him. 2 seasons later he was sold to wolfsburg and i was rather surprised why we hadnt bought him but in the end it all panned out right and im so happy for him and us that it did.
joining palermo.2 seasons later he was sold to wolfsburg….
At the time we had Silva, Nesta, lord bonera, got Yepes on free and bought young Sokratis..
Sokratis was a good CB once upon a time. Shame Milan never gave him a chance.
Then next season we got Mexes on free. That guy was intense but good to have on your team
Our Lord and Savior Bonera is now part.of the coaching staff …. presumably for his abilities in defence. Like when Antonelli got injured vs the man Utd game and our defence waved bye bye to us 😂
still he could have been an understudy as the players you mentioned was getting older and retired in the following year(s) and it would have made sence to ooze him in before that happened.
I remembered him in Palermo very well. I always thought back then that we should have gotten him with Maldini and Nesta getting older/retiring. His positioning and interceptions skills were amazing and his prototype was like them. He was at his best imo then. It would have been him and Silva. But overall that Palermo team was a joy to watch…Pastore, Miccoli, Hernandez, Balzaretti, Cavani. Memories🤩
It would have been interesting to see if it had happeened at such a young age, That palermo team was indeed a fantastic team. On a sidenote that palermo president was nuts how much he sacked coaches, kinda reminded me of the old atl madrid president that kept sacking several coaches a year in basically the same football era.