Former AC Milan Primavera player Milos Kerkez who is a Hungarian left-back, only 18 years old playing for AZ Alkmaar, has spoken to the microphones of Scoutedftbl.com and discussed his experience with the red and black faithful:
"There were a lot of interests in me in the winter. Everything was going fast because the period was so short. I actually wanted to stay in Hungary to grow more physically and leave in the summer. Two days before the window, [Paolo] Maldini called me personally, and he wanted a meeting with me and my father, and we spoke, and that was a big pull for me. You know when Maldini is calling you, you are not thinking too much. After that, it was obvious I was going to go to Milan. It was a big club, and when they want you like this, you cannot say no."
He added:
"You have a lot of really talented young players in the Primavera and you can grow tactically there, which was good for me. I was determined to prove myself.”
Kerkez continued:
"In my experience in Italy, it was always about tactics. Even in Primavera, we did one-and-a-half-hour video analysis after every game. It was a lot of video analysis and free-kick analysis, so I grew up really tactically to play clever and use my head more on the pitch. I think that was a good learning experience and the perfect way for me to grow."
On training with the first team of AC Milan:
"It was crazy to train with the first team,” Kerkez remembers. “The first time I went there, and I was looking around, there was Ibra, [Théo] Hernández, and [Rafael] Leão. It was really new for me. I watched them on the TV two months ago, and now I was training with them. It was unbelievable, but a really good experience. They were all nice guys. At the same time I wanted to prove myself, I was training really hard in training. I wanted to show myself to the coach and prove that I can be part of the team."
Kerkez on Theo Hernandez:
"I watched Théo [Hernández] a lot. I still do. He taught me a lot in the offensive play, like how to run in the space inside, how to make more space with the speed that we have, and how to use our speed in the best way. "
He added:
"I expected more first team football after that. I was expecting to get a chance because I was performing better than any full-back in the Primavera from any team. But unfortunately, it didn’t go that way. Milan is obviously a huge club, and it’s not easy as a young player to get a chance there. But I think with my performances and what I did maybe I deserved a chance, but you know every club has their philosophy how they work with the youth so in the ended I decided because of that [not getting a first team chance] I wanted to leave and play adult football."
AC Milan offered to send Milos Kerkez on loan but...
"We had a lot of offers to go out on loan, but being a loan player is a risky situation. Maybe the team wants to play their player from the academy instead of you, so I didn’t really like the loan decision. I wanted to get a permanent transfer if possible, and it was really hard because Milan didn’t want to give me up that easy. I had a few clubs from Germany, but I really liked AZ’s offer and it was a simple decision with the way they planned things for me."
