© EuroFootball.com
Ukraine national team and Italian champions striker Andriy Shevchenko has agreed to extend his contract until 2009. This decision should mean that the Ukrainian will most likely continue to play in Italy almost until the end of his career.
His previous contract was valid until the summer of next year, but there were talks that the club was afraid the wealthy Russian Roman Abramovich could lure the player to London.
The 27-year-old player scored 24 goals this season and remained at the top of the scorers' list, helping the club win their seventeenth "Scudetto" in history.
Shevchenko earned his good reputation while playing for the team in Kyiv, and in 1999 he moved to Milan for 26 million euros. The Italian club did not regret paying so much money for a player from Eastern Europe, as he defeated opponents' goalkeepers 24 times in the league and became the first to win the title of the most productive player in his debut season. In the following years, Shevchenko scored the same 24 goals, and last season, despite being plagued by injuries, he scored "only" 14 times.
