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Clarence Seedorf appointed AC Milan coach

By on January 14, 2014

Former Real Madrid and AC Milan player Clarence Seedorf has announced his immediate retirement to replace Massimiliano Allegri, who was sacked on Monday, as AC Milan manager.  Seedorf has been released by Brazilian club Botafogo, which he joined after leaving Milan in 2012, in order to take over at the San Siro as soon as possible.

Milan will be lead by caretaker manager Mauro Tassotti as Seedorf watches his side take on Spezia in the Coppa Italia Round of 16 on Wednesday, but the 37-year-old will be in charge for Milan’s Serie A matches against Hellas Verona on Saturday. However, with no previous managerial experience it will be Seedorf’s first ever match employed as part of a coaching staff.  Yet the former Internazionale midfielder is coming will with a tremendous amount of backing from the Milan fans after he spent nearly a decade at the club during his playing career.

Only seven other players have made more than the 432 appearances Seedorf made for Milan between 2002 and 2012, while the midfielder helped the Italian giants win ten major titles, including two Serie A trophies.

Seedorf will also be looking to lead Milan to the Serie A title as a manager now, but will have a long way to go following the clubs poor run of results. I Rossoneri have only won three of their last fifteen matches in all competitions, and sit way down in eleventh place in Serie A. Yet Seedorf spoke with an optimistic additude when announcing the move in A press conference in Rio de Janeiro “I want to announce that I’m ending my playing career,” Seedorf said . “It has been a difficult night for me, but I end satisfied with what I have achieved in my career. I want to thank everybody at Botafogo. This experience will help me a lot in my next step, which will be as coach of Milan.”

“Given my relationship with president Berlusconi, when he called me yesterday, I couldn’t say no.”

“If I could have played on another five years, I would have stayed here because Botafogo have a young, competitive team. We’ve improved not only technically, but also as a team. Even after me, Botafogo will remain great.”

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Alex Morgan, founder of Football Every Day, lives and breaths football from the West Coast of the United States in California. Aside from founding Football Every Day in January of 2013, Alex has also launched his own journalism career and hopes to help others do the same with FBED. He covers the San Jose Earthquakes as a beat reporter for QuakesTalk.com and his work has also been featured in the BBC's Match of the Day Magazine.