Former Super Eagles and Olympique Marseille left-back, Taye Taiwo has opened up about his two-year infamous sojourn in Italy with top club, AC Milan under coach Max Allegri.
The former left-back joined Milan during the 2011 summer transfer window but failed to break into Massimiliano Allegri’s starting line-up on a regular basis.
“I was the first choice left-back during the preseason, but an ankle injury at the start of the season was the reason why I lost my place in the starting XI at AC Milan.
“The Coach (Max Allegri) really wanted me to stay, but I chose first-team football at QPR ahead of staying on the bench at Milan,” he told newsmen.
On 24 January 2012, Queens Park Rangers secured the signing of Taiwo from A.C. Milan on a loan deal until the end of the season, with the option to buy for a fee of around £3.5 million.
Taiwo played 53 times for Nigeria and scored 5 goals between 2004 and 2012.
Taiwo football career begain at Nigeria Division 1 club Gabros International, after which he was bought by Nigeria Premier League side, Lobi Stars. He spent one season at Lobi Stars.
In 2005, at the age of 20, Taiwo was signed by French club, Olympique de Marseille. Taiwo was brought in to fill the void Bixente Lizarazu had left when he departed for Bayern Munich.
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The Nigerian left back scored Marseille’s winning goal against Olympique Lyonnais on 21 March 2010, with a trademark left-footed strike from long range.
He also scored Marseille’s winning goal against US Boulogne on 17 April 2010. On 23 April 2011, Taiwo scored the only goal at the Stade de France against Montpellier HSC to win the 2011 Coupe de la Ligue.
After the match, Taiwo grabbed a microphone and joined fans in singing an expletive-laden chant aimed at the club’s rivals PSG, narrowly escaping a ban from the LFP. However, Taiwo received a one-match ban for his action, missing out on the last games of the season, which could have been his last match and since apologised.
Though keen to sign a contract with the club, Taiwo announced that he would leave Marseille at the end of the 2010-11 season, to seek new challenge elsewhere.
On 9 May 2011, A.C. Milan coach, Massimiliano Allegri, confirmed the signing of Taiwo along with French defender Philippe Mexès.
The two were to play for Milan for the 2011–12 season. He made his debut with the club on 24 September 2011 in the home league match won 1–0 against Cesena where he was eventually replaced by Luca Antonini.
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In December 2011, Taiwo made an interview for the French sports newspaper L’Équipe where he said that he was disappointed with his current experience at A.C. Milan, commenting on problems with Massimiliano Allegri and on the fact that he wasn’t playing.
Despite the player spending much time on the substitutes bench, Taiwo iterated that he remained committed to the Italian club.
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