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Fiorentina today officially announced the acquisition of Alessandro Matri on loan, from AC Milan. Matri will sign a six month contract with no option to buy. No numbers have been released, but, reportedly, the Italian International makes around 2.6 million Euros a year, so I'm assuming we pay around half of that, but who knows.
Alessandro Matri was born August 19, 1984 in Sant'Angelo Lodigiano, Lombardy, southeast of Milan. Matri came up in the Milan youth system, making his first appearance with the Senior squad in 2003, playing an unremarkable 71 minutes.
He then played in the Primavera the next season, before being pimped out, er loaned out, by Uncle Fester for three straight years. He spent a year each at Prato, scoring 5, Lumezzane, scoring 13 and finally Rimini, scoring 4.
After the loan spells, a co-ownership deal for Matri with Cagliari was added to a trade for David Suazo and he was sent to Sarndinia in 2007. Cagliari eventually purchased him outright and he played for them from 2007 until 2011. In January of 2011, Juventus got Matri on loan, with the option to buy, which they exercised that summer.
Juventus then later extended his contract to 2017, but Matri struggled to break the starting lineup, as he has for much of his career, Even so, he still managed 27 goals in 69 appearances. When Milan, sensing a need due to Champions League qualification, asked for a trade, all parties agreed gladly.
There was much fanfare over the local boy's return home, but he has only managed 1 goal in 15 appearances, is still unable to crack a starting squad and all that, along with the generally poor play of the Milan squad, prompted him to seek a loan.
If playing time is what he wants, he'll certainly get that, at least for the next month. He is fit and could possibly even play this weekend. The player has stated that he needs to play and score to make Prandelli's squad, and there's reports of a possible trade in the off season, with Matri casting a covetous eye at English salaries.
In other news, the road to Florence for Brazilian midfielder Anderson hit a slight speed bump as a hitch is his work permit arose, but it was considered more of a red tape issue than any deal breaking issue and his medical was moved to either Thursday or Friday.