MILAN - New signing Nicolas Andres Burdisso was born in Altos de Chipion in Argentina's Cordoba province on 12 April 1981. And he has come a long way since then. Still only
23, the defender has already won two Argentine Apertura titles (in 2000 and 2003), three Copa Libertadores (2000, 2001 and 2003) and two Intercontinental Cups (in 2000 and 2003).
Without knowing it, Burdisso
won his first 'Milan derby' 
(I did watch this game, sadly Burdisso wasn't rumoured to us, thus, I didn't pay attention to his game) last 14 December in Yokohama, Japan when Boca Juniors beat AC Milan on penalties to become world champions. In seven years at Boca, Burdisso has
lost just two local derbies 
. Already an Under-20 international, he made his debut for the Buenos Aires outfit (then coached by maestro Josè Pekerman) on 10 October 1999. It was an Apertura tournament match against Instituto de Cordoba and Boca won 2-0.
He has won the respect of coaches ever since he played for the youth academy of Newell's Old Boys, a team founded by several Genoan emigrants on 3 April 1995. Physically strong, Burdisso stands
1.82m tall and weighs 81 kilos. A
versatile defender, he played in
every defensive position under former coach Carlos Bianchi. And for a player whose main task is to stop opponents scoring, he
nets quite a few himself :stuckup: .
Burdisso's first goal in a competitive fixture was with the Argentina Under-20 side on 24 January 2001 in Ecuador. He scored his first for Boca a month and a day later in a match against Newell's Old Boys at the Bombonera. A goal after just seven minutes against Racing on 4 March 2001, and Burdisso had made the quick rise to regular first-team status.
There was soon talk of a move to Europe and numerous clubs sent scouts to South America for a closer look at the defender. From Italy, representatives of Juventus, Roma, Lazio,
AC Milan :stuckup: and, of course, Inter made the trip across the Atlantic. In the meantime, Burdisso had made
three appearances for the Argentina men's national team and won the World Youth Championship with his country's Under-20 side in 2001.
Nicolas Andres Burdisso has come of age. Last week he scored in the second leg of the Copa Libertadores final, then saluted Boca Juniors and came straight to Italy with the fame of a winning youngster and a European Community passport which made possible his transfer (
F.C. Internazionale have registered Juan Sebastian Veron as a non-European player).
"My family has Italian origins," explains Nicolas. "My great grandparents came from the other side of the world, leaving from Collegno just outside Turin."
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So, we have already signed Veron as our non-European player ... cud that mean that we won't be able to get any other non-European player ??
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