Pervis Estupiñan, our club’s first Ecuadorian player in history. A key signing to strengthen Coach Allegri’s defence, and a player who has already demonstrated his ability in pre-season friendlies. At the Rossoneri’s home base, the Ecuadorian gave a press conference, which was streamed live on the AC Milan Official App and Milan TV.
MILAN’S FIRST ECUADORIAN “AC Milan are famous everywhere, not just in my country. I know the players who’ve come through here. I’ve worked hard to get here, and I want to enjoy this moment. It makes me proud to be Ecuador’s first AC Milan player, and it motivates me to make history. A lot of people have written to me, telling me they’ve always been AC Milan fans. Lots of Ecuadorians living in Milan have said they’ll come to San Siro to support me.”
JOINING THE ROSSONERI “I feel really good. I’m fully fit. I can’t wait to play at San Siro. At every club I’ve played for, I’ve shown my physicality. It was a great feeling to know this Club was interested in me. My family and I are really happy. This is an opportunity that I want to take as best I can; it’s a dream come true. Since arriving in Milan, I’ve received the best welcome I could’ve expected. I’ve felt my teammates’ hunger to do great things. We want to fight, and we hope to get off on the right foot this Sunday. The aim is to get off to the best possible start. The gaffer is asking a lot of us, and he wants to make sure we have a winning mentality.
HIS ROLE AND MAX ALLEGRI “I like to combine with the midfielders and forwards. I’m doing what the gaffer asks of me. If we play with a back 4, I can get up the pitch and link up with the attackers, but I can also play in a back 3. This is a great group. We’re all motivated to do great things. My first impressions of Allegri were good; he jokes with his players, but he also gets serious when it’s time to work. He wants to win, and I really like his attitude.”
ON THEO HERNÁNDEZ AND DE ZERBI “He’s a great player who left his mark on this team. Now, it’s my time. I’ll work hard because I want to repay the faith shown in me. I can’t wait to win a lot of trophies with AC Milan, and I want to contribute to that. De Zerbi helped me to understand Italian, but I can’t speak it yet. I’m happy to have been coached by him. He’s a great coach, and he helped me a lot. I have fond memories of our two seasons together, and I’ll try to utilise all that he taught me. The Premier League is so intense, very different from La Liga. You have to run a lot, and the ball moves so quickly. De Zerbi taught me to improve my passing; I worked a lot with him and got much better at it. I’ll try to keep developing at AC Milan.”
ON LEÃO “I can’t wait to play with him; I’m ready. We all know how good Rafa is. I can’t wait to play with him. I realised straight away that we will do great things together.”
CHOOSING THE NUMBER 2 SHIRT “Wearing the same number as Cafu makes me proud; it motivates me to do better. A lot of players have worn this number, and I chose it because of the nice things he said about me. It’s a tribute to him.”
PERVIS’ AMBITION “The aim is to stay at this Club for a while. I’ve worked hard to get here. I want to make history and contribute with my goals and assists. I’m happy to be here and to live in a beautiful city like Milan. It’s so nice to see so many people with AC Milan shirts. It’ll be a big challenge, but I want to make the fans happy. We’re playing in three competitions, and we aim to win them all. I have a lot of dreams, and I want to achieve them.
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