Brazilian midfielder Emerson will return to Italy to play
for AC Milan after just one season with Real Madrid. The Primera
Liga side said on their website they had reached an agreement to
sell the 31-year-old international to the European champions but
did not reveal the fee. Milan confirmed the Brazil international
had joined the club on their website.
Emerson joined Real Madrid from Juventus for an estimated fee of 16
million euros ($21.56 million) last year after the Italian side
were punished with relegation following a match-fixing scandal.
Emerson's signing was made at the request of new coach Fabio
Capello who had made the holding midfielder a key part of his plans
at both AS Roma and Juve.
However, the notoriously hard-to-please Real Madrid fans quickly
got on the player's back after a shaky start to the season and he
struggled to settle at the Spanish giants. The Spanish media
accused him of not wanting to play at the Bernabeu in front of a
critical Real crowd when Capello left him out of the starting
line-up for several home matches.
But the Brazilian recovered form in the latter part of the season
and ended the campaign on a high when Real overhauled arch-rivals
Barcelona to take their first league title in four years. With Real
deciding to sack Capello at the end of the season, Emerson's future
at the club was cast into doubt and new boss Bernd Schuster made it
clear that he did not feature in his plans.
