What kind of joke is Italian club AC Milan trying to pull on the U.S. Soccer Federation

Posted by David Hein Oct 16, 2009

European clubs have long complained about having to free up their players for national team duty. And many a club has been aggrivated when their players return with injuries.

But Italian giants AC MIlan took things way too far when they called for the U.S. Soccer Federation to pay compensation for defender Oguchi Onyewu, who tore the patellar tendon in his left knee and could be out six months.

"I'm very angry because once again the national teams take players and we lose out due to injuries," AC Milan chief executive officer Adriano Galliani told Italian media October 15, 2009.

"This is a problem that needs to be resolved. We at Milan are expecting compensation from the American federation. We can't pay a player who can't play for six months."

Of course AC Milan is disappointed about losing Onyewu, who signed on a three-year contract in July. But this is a serious joke.

Galliani - and no other Italian club CEO - would not even think about asking the Italian federation for compensation if an Italian player of his got hurt while playing for the Italian national team. And they wouldn't go after the Brazilian federation if a Brazilian came back with an injury.

So why go after the USSF?

It just goes to show how little respect Galliani has for American soccer, which is quite disappointing.

And it seems fitting that it was Galliani who made these comments as it was Galliani who engineered the crazy signing of David Beckham away from the Los Angeles Galaxy.

It should not be surprising if in the future, the USSF encourages all American players to avoid AC Milan because of this latest incident.