Ryan Patrick Nolan, remember the name.
From Clare to Milan by way of Spain, it’s been a hell of a rise for Ryan Nolan but rise he has.
At 19 years of age, the Irish defender made his debut for the Italian giants on Saturday night in a 3-0 friendly win over Lugano. He came off the bench in the 76th minute and replaced Belgian Radja Nainggolan and marked his first game by seeing out the clean sheet.
At eight years of age, Nolan moved from Shannon to Spain where he played all his youth football until he was 16 and signed by Inter Milan. After coming through the academy in north Italy, he won a new contract with the club and was thrown in by manager Luciano Spalletti on Saturday.
@SportsJOEdotie @talkSPORT Clare man makes his debut for inter Milan first team pic.twitter.com/84NZdiShYb
— david mc intyre (@dmcintyrepga) July 14, 2018
He has been enjoying his first spell of first team training this month too as he hooked up with the Nerazzurri senior side for pre-season and hasn’t looked out of place.
Inter finished in fourth place in Serie A last year, beating Lazio to the Champions League spot on goal difference and they will go straight into the European group stage now with Nolan hoping to continue as part of the panel.
Robbie Keane and Liam Brady are the only other two Irish men to ever wear the famous blue and black of Inter but Nolan joins that prestigious list of names.
The club are set to take part in the International Champions Cup pre-season competition, starting on July 28, and will play Chelsea, Lyon and Atletico Madrid in the coming weeks.
