Ranking AC Milan's Top Summer Transfers of the Past 10 Years
The transfer market is a cruel mistress. For every purchase that sends a team to the top of the world, there are half a dozen others that turn out to be wastes of money.
For AC Milan, it's no different. Over the last half a decade, the Rossoneri have blundered more often than they've triumphed in the transfer market. Major mistakes, such as Alessandro Matri, have set the Rossoneri back and contributed to the decline the team has endured since their Scudetto win in 2010-11.
But over the last decade the team has also made its fair share of good moves—and that's what we're going to focus on here.
All of the players on this list have had a major on-field impact for Milan, and many were good-value signings as well. Most importantly, this article focuses on summer buys—so anyone looking for Mario Balotelli's first stint with the team shouldn't be surprised not to see it, as he arrived in the winter of 2013. Same with Thiago Silva, who signed in January 2009.
This list includes the most recent window, meaning that the cut-off date is the 2006-07 window.
Who are AC Milan's best summer signings of the last decade? Let's take a look and find out.
10. Riccardo Montolivo
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Acquired in: 2012
Acquired from: Fiorentina, free
Serie A appearances (goals): 81 (7)
European appearances: 11
Riccardo Montolivo has driven some fans mad with his inconsistency, but for a free transfer his signing was an astute one.
Injuries suffered on international duty cost him all of last season and the season before was marred by an up-and-down run of form that never stayed up for very long. But in his first year, 2012-13, his form helped key the team's stunning rise from as low as 12th to third place—and a Champions League spot—on the last day of the season.
Assuming the captaincy after Massimo Ambrosini left the club in 2013, Montolivo can dictate the game from the regista position when he's on form. He often suffers from the fact that he was brought in to replace Andrea Pirlo—no one is Pirlo—but when he's in a good run he can be a high-level contributor to the team.
9. Alessio Romagnoli
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Acquired in: 2015
Acquired from: Roma, €25 million
Serie A appearances: 11
Alessio Romagnoli is on this list as a look toward the future.
Center back has been Milan's biggest problem since 2012, when Thiago Silva joined Paris Saint-Germain. Legendary defender Alessandro Nesta left that same summer to finish his career in MLS, stripping Milan's back line to the studs.
Since then, the players who attempted to replace them made a mockery of the defensive legacy left by the likes of Nesta, Alessandro Costacurta, Franco Baresi and Paolo Maldini.
The arrival of Romagnoli was meant to correct this problem. Extraordinarily talented and only 20 years old, vice president Adriano Galliani has finally acquired a defender who can be the cornerstone of a back line in the way Maldini and Nesta were.
Excellent in the air and a talented passer, Romagnoli could eventually rival Leonardo Bonucci as a ball-playing center back. Much like Maldini, he isn't a volume tackler, instead relying on positioning and guile to force players away from goal—or to deny them the ball outright by intercepting a pass.
A building block Milan can lean on for years to come, Romagnoli could go down as one of the best signings the club has ever made.
8. Jeremy Menez
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Acquired in: 2014
Acquired from: Paris Saint-Germain, free
Serie A appearances (goals): 33 (16)
Jeremy Menez is a flawed player. He's too selfish, and he's undisciplined. He brings as many promising attacking moves to an end as he finishes off. Of his team-leading 16 goals last season, a full half of them came from the penalty spot.
That said, getting 16 goals from any type from a free transfer has to be considered a big win in the market. Menez held Milan's attack together as a false nine in the first half of the 2014-15 season and provided some highlights, such as his outrageous backheel goal against Parma the second week of the season.
While certainly not a club-changing signing, he gave good value on the field for no money. It's yet to be seen whether he can contribute even more under Sinisa Mihajlovic because of a back injury.
7. Gianluca Zambrotta
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Acquired in: 2008
Acquired from: Barcelona, €10.5 million
Serie A appearances (goals): 80 (2)
European appearances: 19
With Cafu departing and Paolo Maldini moving inside as he aged, AC Milan needed some reinforcements on the flanks at the back in 2008.
They addressed that need with World Cup winner Gianluca Zambrotta. The Italy international had left Juventus two seasons before after their relegation and had been plying his trade for Barcelona.
In his first season in Milan, Zambrotta led the team in appearances. He announced himself early with a 31-yard screamer of a goal against Lazio that September and played consistently well.
His playing time decreased as the seasons went by. The next year saw him switch from the right to the left as Ignazio Abate emerged as the team's right-back. He stayed with the club until 2012 before finishing his career in Switzerland.
Zambrotta was in the twilight of his career with Milan, but he served the team well, mentoring young players such as Abate while contributing much on the field himself.
6. Nigel De Jong
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Acquired in: 2012
Acquired from: Manchester City, €3.5 million
Serie A appearances (goals): 78 (5)
European appearances: 12
Acquired on the cheap from Manchester City in 2012, Nigel de Jong missed significant time with injuries in his first season before settling in and locking down a starting role.
A destroyer in midfield, the Dutchman's playing time has dropped off under Sinisa Mihajlovic, but in the two years prior to the Serbian's arrival, he played 33 and 29 games respectively. His disruptive influence has been a valuable part of the Rossoneri's defense.
De Jong has, for the most part, been a pillar of stability in an otherwise fluid lineup. Given the money spent on him, he's been a great-value buy.
5. Kevin-Prince Boateng
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Acquired in: 2010
Acquired from: Genoa, €3 million initial loan fee, €7.5 million final fee
Serie A appearances (goals): 74 (10)
European appearances (goals): 23 (6)
Kevin-Prince Boateng is another figure who wasn't an automatic for this list. His place here exemplifies just how few transfer coups Milan has pulled in recent years.
Boateng was a controversial player, but when he was on the field, he could be dangerous as a box-to-box midfielder. One of his biggest problems during his tenure with Milan was the fact former manager Massimiliano Allegri insisted on playing him as a trequartista, where his talents weren't utilized in the best way.
The key to Boateng's game was his energy and the speed with which he played. That work rate put pressure on opponents, enhancing the threat of his skill and power.
He wasn't the kind of high-volume goalscorer from midfield Arturo Vidal was for Juventus, but he was a dangerous player in the three years he spent at the San Siro.
4. Alexandre Pato
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Acquired in: 2007
Acquired from: Internacional, €22 million
Serie A appearances (goals): 117 (51)
European appearances (goals): 28 (9)
Alexandre Pato's name usually makes Milan fans wince, but when he started at the San Siro, he looked like a world-beater. His Rossoneri career started when he was a teenager, and he scored nine times in 18 games in his debut season.
He continued to score at an impressive rate for the next two years, notching roughly once every three games before the injury bug came calling.
Injuries robbed Pato of playing time and stunted his development. He was limited to only 15 games in his last two years before he returned to Brazil in the winter of 2013.
The end of his time at Milan was a disappointment, but in his first four seasons with the team he scored a goal every two games—an incredible return, even for his relatively high cost. His injuries meant things ended on a disappointing note, but his numbers mark him as an unqualified success.
3. Giacomo Bonaventura
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Acquired in: 2014
Acquired from: Atalanta, €7 million
Serie A appearances (goals): 44 (9)
Giacomo Bonaventura has been Milan's best outfield player over the last two years.
Acquired from Atalanta last summer, Bonaventura has done everything Milan has asked of him and done it with quality. He has been deployed as a box-to-box midfielder, a trequartista and a winger and has handled himself at all three positions.
Even more important than what he does with the ball, Bonaventura's attitude is what sets him apart. When Milan's season was falling apart last year, he was one of the only players who didn't succumb to the malaise that infected the locker room. The rest of the team played as if they didn't care, just going through the motions. Bonaventura went full bore and never gave up.
A skilled passer, excellent set-piece taker and arguably the only creative player Milan has, Bonaventura has proved himself to be indispensable.
2. Carlos Bacca
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Acquired in: 2015
Acquired from: Sevilla, €30 million
Serie A appearances (goals): 12 (6)
Since the departure of Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Milan has been searching for a quality striker to lead the line.
The list of attempts—and failures—to find that player is long. Antonio Cassano, Giampaolo Pazzini, Stephan El Shaarawy, Mario Balotelli, Alessandro Matri, Fernando Torres, Menez and Mattia Destro have all tried to be that go-to man—and despite a few individual periods of success, none have really managed it.
That need came to a head this summer, and it was finally dealt with when Milan sent €30 million to Sevilla for Carlos Bacca.
The Colombian had just fired the Spanish side to their second consecutive Europa League title with two goals in the final, and he gave up the opportunity to play in the Champions League to help Milan rebuild. So far, the results have been golden.
Bacca has adapted extraordinarily well to Serie A—one of, if not the most difficult league in the world for strikers to play in. He's scored six times in 12 matches, a feat all the more impressive considering just how little service he's actually gotten. If the players behind him were to step up and put him in dangerous spots more often, his numbers could truly be off the charts.
Still in his prime at 29, Bacca is another building block for the future Milan desperately needed. Even this early in the season, it's hard to say he is anything other than an unqualified success.
1. Zlatan Ibrahimovic
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Acquired in: 2010
Acquired from: Barcelona, €6 million initial loan fee, €24 million final fee
Serie A appearances (goals): 61 (42)
European appearances (goals): 16 (9)
What is there to say about Zlatan that hasn't already been said?
Even though he only spent two years at San Siro with Milan, the impact he had was immense. In 2011, he spurred the Rossoneri to their first title since 2004 in his first year and ended Antonio Di Natale's two-year reign as capocannoniere in his second, scoring 28 goals. Consider that the league's scoring champions have scored 22 apiece in the last two seasons.
So great was the impression left by the big Swede that honorary president Silvio Berlusconi engaged in a long and ultimately fruitless attempt to lure him back this summer. There are some fans that think that the Rossoneri would be instant Scudetto contenders again if they get him back.
Ibrahimovic's stay in Milan only lasted two years, but they were two of the best years that any Milan striker has managed ever. His impact was huge, and he is truly the best player on this list.
All transfer-fee information from Transfermarkt.com.
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