Juraj Kucka

Juraj Kucka (Slovak pronunciation: [ˈjuraj ˈkutska]; born 26 February 1987), also known by his nickname Kuco (Slovak pronunciation: [ˈkutsɔ]), is a Slovak footballer who plays as a midfielder for Slovak club Baník Prievidza.

Club career

Early career

Kucka made his Corgoň Liga debut for Ružomberok on 11 March 2007. He played six games in his first season. Overall, Kucka played 49 games and scored eight goals for Ružomberok.

Czech manager Michal Bílek, who managed Ružomberok in 2008, recommended Kucka to sign for AC Sparta Prague. The footballer eventually signed a three-year contract for said club in January 2009. Kucka later scored a goal on his league debut against FC Vysočina Jihlava.

Genoa

In January 2011, Kucka joined Italian side Genoa for a fee of around €3.6 million, signing a contract for 4.5 years. He made his debut in the 3–2 Coppa Italia loss against Inter Milan on 12 January 2011, playing the whole match. La Gazzetta dello Sport wrote of him, after five appearances, that he was the club's second-best player behind Kakha Kaladze. He scored his first goal for Genoa in a 2–1 away victory against Lazio on 18 September 2011.

AC Milan

On 28 August 2015, Kucka was signed by AC Milan for €3 million transfer fee. However, Milan also paid an unknown parties an additional €1 million. He made his league debut on 29 August 2015 in a 2–1 home victory against Empoli, and scored his first Milan goal on 9 January 2016 to equalize against AS Roma in a 1–1 draw.