OFFICIAL: Newcastle sign AC Milan defender
AC Milan and Newcastle have announced the transfer of the highly-rated young defender to the Premier League club.
At the beginning of the summer window AC Milan and Newcastle completed one of the the biggest transfers of the year. The new Rossoneri management decided to sell Sandro Tonali to Newcastle for a club record club fee of around €80 million. An unpopular move that caused the ire of the Red and Blacks fans who could not imagine the departure of the future captain.
However, Sandro Tonali will not be the only transfer between the two clubs. Newcastle and AC Milan have done business for a second time. After Gianluca Di Marzio initially broke the news, today it has been officially confirmed that AC Milan have sold highly-rated young defender Cathal Heffernan to Newcastle.
The 18-year-old centre back has joined the Premier League club for a yet undisclosed fee. Cathal Heffernan left AC Milan after being part of the club for only 18 months. Heffernan arrived on an initial loan move from Cork City and AC Milan made his transfer permanent after six months at the club.
Cathal Heffernan was a key player of AC Milan Under-18 side. The young centre back made 26 league appearances, all as a first minute starter, missing only one match the entire season. Cathal is also part of Ireland’s Under-18 national side. AC Milan will be surely making a healthy profit considering they paid ‘just’ 60 thousand euros for his services to Cork City in 2022.
Unfortunately, Cathal Heffernan will not be making the transfer to AC Milan Primavera squad by joining Newcastle U-21 instead and rejecting several offers from other Italian clubs. Heffernan comes from a prestigious sporting background, with parents Rob and Marian both competing in the Olympics in race walking and the 400m relay respectively. The centre-back will join fellow Galway native Alex Murphy at Newcastle.
The player is excited about this new opportunity. “The first thing I noticed when I came into testing was that the guys were really welcoming and I just want to carry that feeling through the season by getting to know them more. The people in Newcastle are really nice too”, said Heffernan.
“I became a much better defender during my time at AC Milan and learned many things that improved my game during my two seasons in Italy which should be useful to me in the future. The goal, when playing academy football, is to try and get into the first team as quickly as possible and hopefully I can do that at Newcastle United”.
It’s unreal to sign for Newcastle United and it’s a real dream come true. I always had a football on my hands growing up and it has always been a big part of my family. Newcastle’s legacy was a major factor in my motivation to sign. There’s a lot of history here, the fan base is amazing and I think it’s a great place to find yourself“, Cathal Heffernan said in his first interview as a Newcastle United player.
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