AC Milan beat Lumezzane 7-0 in their first summer friendly at Milanello on Thursday evening, and the man who got the last goal was the rather unknown name of Kevin Zeroli.
Those who read our site regularly will know who Zeroli is as we did a profile on him during the Primavera’s historic run to the final four of the UEFA Youth League, but it doesn’t hurt to have a refresher.
As mentioned, Zeroli was named in the squad for the friendly yesterday and scored the final goal in the rout of the Serie C side with a glancing header that most centre-forwards would look upon with admiration.
Milan will face significantly tougher opponents in the United States though, and Stefano Pioli will fortunately be able to rely on a strong squad which includes Zeroli along with other Primavera stars Chaka Traore and Jan-Carlo Simic.
Zeroli’s story is somewhat of a fairytale, as he grew up a Milan fan in Busto Arsizio which is about 30 minutes outside of the city, joining the youth sector when he was young and making his way through the ranks.
Back in 2010, Kevin accompanied his brother Brian (born in 2003, now a central defender who plays in Serie C with Legnano) with his family to a trial with Milan and he was noticed by a scout.
While working on his football he did karate lessons as a child, but his dream has always been to play at San Siro with the team of his heart, and he is certainly on the right track.
After a season as captain of the U17s – a team that he took to the semi-finals with 7 goals – Kevin Zeroli moved to Ignazio Abate’s AC Milan Primavera team at the beginning of the 2022-23 campaign and established himself as a starting midfielder from the first match.
After several formation changes including a 4-2-3-1 and a three-man defence, he soon became immovable in the 4-3-3 system that Abate has now become known for and which took the team deep in Europe.
Zeroli was a protagonist in the UEFA Youth League, and scorer of the goal that knocked out FC Rukh Lviv to mean Milan made the quarter-finals.
In the league, Zeroli finished the season with 27 appearances (2132 minutes played), 2 goals and 3 assists, even wearing the armband in a game against Bologna back in March.
What kind of a player is he? He is a modern midfielder with an imposing size standing at 1.87m tall. He combines physical strength, dynamism and work rate, but is also good on the dribble and in his decision making.
His main characteristic might just be his late runs into the area, especially on crosses, which have led to many of his goals as seen in the game against Lumezzane.
In June, Zeroli changed agents, choosing to rely on Rafaela Pimenta, the Brazilian lawyer who is the heir to Mino Raiola and attorney for Erling Haaland among others.
Karate+Football (article said he did karate lessons lol)… don’t mix the two hahahah. Hope to see more of him.
Z did
he looked really good yesterday