Milan were one of the most active clubs and one of the biggest spenders in Europe this summer, signing 11 new players, while also waving goodbye to some and making decent money on them.
It was an absolutely historic summer for the Rossoneri as it was the first transfer market of Milan without Silvio Berlusconi and former VP Adriano Galliani, and under the new Chinese ownership, led by President Yonghong Li, CEO Marco Fassone and Director of Sport Massimiliano Mirabelli.
Milan signed 11 new players, 10 of them arrived before August as Mirabelli and Fassone moved quickly and decisively to strengthen the squad of boss Vincenzo Montella so he will have time to work with the team before the Europa League and Serie A commitments take place.
While no transfer deadline-day signing was made, it was still a very exciting summer for the Milan fans, as they saw Milan spend like they have never done before, creating a team to challenge for top spots in Serie A. Among the new signings, there is also Leonardo Bonucci, who arrived from Juventus for €42 million (including bonuses) and has since been named the new club’s captain.
The full list of arrivals can be found below, with the transfer fees as they were reported in the media:
| Player Name | Role | Age | Arrived From | Details (rumoured) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mateo Musacchio | Defender | 27 | Villarreal | Permanent deal, €15m + €3m bonuses |
| Franck Kessié | Midfielder | 20 | Atalanta | Two-year loan with obligation to buy, €8m loan + €20m buy-out |
| Ricardo Rodriguez | Defender | 25 | Wolfsburg | Permanent deal, €15m + €3m bonuses |
| André Silva | Forward | 21 | Porto | Permanent deal, €38m + €2m bonuses |
| Fabio Borini | Forward | 26 | Sunderland | One-year loan with obligation to buy, €1m loan + €5m buy-out |
| Hakan Çalhanoğlu | Midfielder | 23 | Bayer Leverkusen | Permanent deal, €20m + €2m bonuses |
| Andrea Conti | Defender | 23 | Atalanta | Permanent deal, €22m + €2m bonuses + Matteo Pessina |
| Antonio Donnarumma | Goalkeeper | 27 | Asteras Tripoli | Permanent deal, €1m |
| Leonardo Bonucci | Defender | 30 | Juventus | Permanent deal, €40m + €2m bonuses over 3 installments |
| Lucas Biglia | Midfielder | 31 | Lazio | Permanent deal, €17m + €3m bonuses |
| Nikola Kalinić | Forward | 29 | Fiorentina | One-year loan with obligation to buy, €5m loan + €20m buy out |
| José Mauri | Midfielder | 21 | Empoli | Return from one-year loan |
With the transfer window shut in Italy, Milan can no longer sign new players but they are still able to sell players to countries where the window is still open (Spain, Turkey and Portugal for example). In any case, the Rossoneri said goodbye to a lot of players already; full list of departures below:
| Player Name | Role | Age | Went To | Details (rumoured) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Keisuke Honda | Midfielder | 31 | Pachuca | End of contract |
| Matias Fernandez | Midfielder | 31 | Fiorentina | End of one-year loan deal |
| Mario Pasalic | Midfielder | 22 | Chelsea / Spartak Moscow | End of one-year loan deal |
| Gerard Deulofeu | Forward | 23 | Everton / Barcelona | End of six-month loan |
| Lucas Ocampos | Forward | 23 | Marseille | End of six-month loan |
| Diego López | Goalkeeper | 35 | Espanyol | Permanent deal, €1m |
| Andrea Poli | Midfielder | 27 | Bologna | Permanent deal, free transfer |
| Luca Vido | Forward | 20 | Atalanta | Permanent deal, €1m + bonuses + buy-back clause |
| Matteo Pessina | Midfielder | 20 | Atalanta | Permanent deal, as part of the Andrea Conti transfer |
| Alessandro Plizzari | Goalkeeper | 17 | Ternana | One-year loan deal, fee unknown |
| Juraj Kucka | Midfielder | 30 | Trabzonspor | Permanent deal, €6m |
| Andrea Bertolacci | Midfielder | 26 | Genoa | One year loan, €2m |
| Gianluca Lapadula | Forward | 27 | Genoa | One-year loan with obligation to buy, €2m loan + €11m buy-out |
| Mattia De Sciglio | Defender | 24 | Juventus | Permanent deal, €12m in 3 installments + €0.5m bonuses |
| Leonel Vangioni | Defender | 30 | Monterrey | Permanent deal, €2m |
| Giovanni Crociata | Midfielder | 20 | Crotone | Permanent deal, fee unknown |
| Rodrigo Ely | Defender | 23 | Alavés | Permanent deal, €3m + 30% of a future sale |
| Carlos Bacca | Forward | 30 | Villarreal | One-year loan with option to buy, €2.5m loan + €15.5m buy-out |
| M'Baye Niang | Forward | 22 | Torino | One-year loan with obligation to buy, €2m loan + €12m buy-out + €1m bonuses + 25% of a future sale |
| Stefan Simic | Defender | 22 | Crotone | One-year loan deal, fee unknown |
| Jose Sosa* | Midfielder | 32 | Trabzonspor | One-year loan deal with option to buy, €1.35m + €3.4 million buy-out (to be triggered by January 15, 2018) |
* J. Sosa was sold after the ending of the Italian transfer window, on the Turkish deadline day.
My grades remains at 85 % for this season…..atleast a winger and a real goal pocher is still needed hope kalinic meets my expectation
why aren’t we trying out 4-4-2? we have 3 striker and will need another one to carry us like Aubameyang or some one of his caliber.
—————Donnarumma———————-
Conti—–Bonucci–Romagnoli—–Rodriguez
Suso—-Kessie–Chanhaglou—-Bonaventura
———-Silva—-Cutrone/Kalicic————–
10/10 Fassobelli great job!!
didnt know messi, cr7 AND (real) man neuer arrived mate
Dude we got 11 players for just over 200m, we sold/loaned 20 of our players.
For a team which is not in UCL this is more than satisfying.
Next year when we will be in UCL (hope so) you can expect bigger names coming.
Also, would rather spend 200m on this players than 200m on some Neymar/Mpappe.
Correction: we just got 9 players plus borini and antonio while missing out on james, auba/belotti/morata, renato, keita, bunch of cm/dm like krychowiak, rafinha or kampl. Its not perfect 10/10 if its only “more than satisfying” and could’ve been better wouldn’t u think? 8/10 is more like it
Bonucci, Kalinic, Biglia – three great experienced players and also weakening our rivals at the same time.
You have to understand that is nearly impossible to sign that big names without UCL.
Sorry that we didn’t sign Neymar, CR7 and Messi, maybe we could also add Neuer and Hazard on that list… And Sergio Ramos…
Well, put it this way: if u give messi/maradona’s dribbling a 98/100 rating, would u give kaka 98/100 for his dribbling too? Just because something is good doesnt mean its perfectly good that warrants 10/10 rating. Donadoni, san marco and gullit arrived when milan werent champions of italy let alone europe too. What rating would u give those transfers (5 scudetti and 3 ucl, mind u), 12/10?
“Sorry that we didn’t sign Neymar, CR7 and Messi, maybe we could also add Neuer and Hazard on that list… And Sergio Ramos…” precisely. Now that wouldve been 10/10 for sure
Neuer is not good enough for Milan ! He’s just a fetish of milan10. My oppinion… he’s not tall and errors prone. Fatal errors like kahn. So, no, Neuer is not the best example
Hahaha, now THAT’S funny. Not quite as funny as dennis hopper – chris walken dialogue in true romance but pretty close. Good one mate. Hahahaha
I must agree with Milan10. The transfer window was something like 8/10 and thats wonderful. But it isnt 10/10 altough it might feel like it cause our last few windows hasn’t been that good.
Mention the players’ name you are most joyous he left. I will start. Bertolacci
Niang
Poli
Zapata and Sosa stayed so can’t say anyone
Neymar
Bacca. I’m 100% happy to see either Cutrone, Silva or Kalanic up front in his place.
Bertolacci
we shld of bought a replacement for Niang, there’s alot of football to be played
Comment: is niang dude
The unworthy son (De Sciglio)
Obviously this summer was better than any of us had dared to hope for. Well done. Now Montella can fully work on getting the team to play like a unit and they have until January to figure out where the biggest squad needs are at. There are still a couple of weak spots, but again, that can be addressed in January.
This transfer market is rated 95%. It would have been 100 if we signed a winger and a back-up for kessie. Nevertheless top 4 is the goal of this year and we are more than capable to achieve it. Let’s support the team no matter the results and remain hopeful of a better campaign than last season. Forza Milan
Comment:oh yes we had bout alot of players in d mercato bt 4krist sake wat z Montella tinking by nt demanding 4 a winger wen he loves 433 formation, or z he planin on playing borini on d wings or wat, wat if suso gets injured… am okay wit d defence,midfield BT our striking department may mak d oda departments luk bad, just luk at wat happened against cagliari, we wiz just playing d ball around BT no player was makin d cut or doing d killing, we Wia Lukin lyk a big dragon wit no teeth n yet we… Read more »
Comment: I guess he will have to convert Calhanoglu or Bonaventura to temporary LWF till a new winger arrives. Bprini can play both left and right or he will have to use Andre Silva as a winger or Change the Formation Which is not likely for Montella, but he can when he has no choice, and that is when we start losing Which we don’t want or Suso gets injured Which will be a big blow.
All up to Montella to deliver convincing points.
Forza Milan
After the mercato ends and we don’t sign new winger, I’m excited to see Suso and/or Hakan behind striker in 4-3-2-1
I dont see how anyone can adke for more than what happened in this windoe. Have y’all foegotten what we looked like in may? Take a look at the lineup that started the last game of the season and lost to Cagliari and compare it to who started on sunday… Sure, there a couple of weak areas, but i see the players in the squad that may, if they find their feet, perfectly cover those holes, and if they don’t they will be acceptable placeholders until we can get the right players to complete the team. This current swuad should… Read more »
“mayne we can grab Auba in january and send kalinic to china at a profit” *biggest armin van buuren-like AMEN drop ever
Thanks Yonghong Li and Fassobelli for the great mercato. 11/10 LOL We get more from what we expect
A great window. Now lets exploit our best players and use the formation that fits them 4-3-1-2 or 3-5-2.
It was a fantastic mercato by fasobelli.
Kudos for it.
My only regret is that we didn’t sign a good left winger. I hope it doesn’t come back to haunt us.
In any case, good luck to the squad. Stay at the top as you are now.
Do believe RR68 will slot the LW position some part this season..
For some Milan from USA
The best move for now I hope January is going to be better .
Let’s go Milan
Sweet mother of bonadinho, just look at that list of departing players; just few could’ve beens like niang, kucka, deulofeu, lapapin and bacca and the rest are just flat out no good sob (excluding the primaveras). I hope borini and antonio follow their footsteps soon.
Like i said, 8-8,5/10 for this mercato
Lapa…what ?
I’ll give u clues: ballon d’or, savicevic, van basten injury
jean-pierre papin – won the 91 ballon d’or, arrived in 92-93 just like savićević, played in 92-93 cl final against his former club which was also van basten’s last game
Spoken like a true milanista. If i might add, papin took the baton from van basten in second half of 92/93 as milan’s main goalscorer when the latter was out injured (sadly, for good). He also beat savicevic to ’91 ballon d’or Though Honestly, i think savicevic shouldve won it
well papin was too troubled by the injuries in that season, and the next one which is why his output wasn’t as good as it was in marseille, but he was great in that first season nevertheless van basten was on the verge of having the best season in milan, even better than the previous one, and if him and papin weren’t troubled by the injuries i think the 92-93 squad would’ve stood as milan’s best ever, i mean just look at the names it featured i think papin defenetly deserved a ballon d’or, he was among the best strikers… Read more »
Off the topic- just read that Argentina used biglia for full 90 minutes.
Exactly what I was scared of. We protect the player and help him recover from injury while they get thrown into a match by the national team with total disregard to their injury.
Thats exactly what wenger said
Giuseppe Iglio 16 yo promising midfielder was reportedly sent to Monaco.
Does anyone know if it’s a loan deal or we sold him?
It’a week since then ! Permanently sold
I would give the mercato 9/10 considering our position in world football at the moment and all the dead weight we off-loaded (especially Honda, Bacca, Ocampos, Mati, Pasalic, Bertolacci). Stealing Bonucci from Juventus was just inspired.. Only thing stopping it from being a 10/10 for me was that one final signing to replace Niang.
As long as the primary formation is unclear, it’s hard to give a score. If for example Montella sticks to 4-3-3 then the mercato is very average something like 5/10 – given that there is only 1 natural winger in the team and no top playmaker. Too many (of the “good”) players would be used out-of-position or benched. If on the other hand Montella switches to 3-5-2, then I would give an 8-9/10: very strong (and plenty) CBs, good wingbacks, more suitable midfielders and nice combination of ST profiles. Only Suso has to change position but I think he has… Read more »
We had a much better mercato than anyone expected. First off we did great keeping Donnarumma. In defence is where we really improved, we signed a top 2 CB in the the world, a top class one, and 2 great fullbacks. RR will improve so much in a better team, and Conti was tremendous last season.. In midfield, personally I think Kessie was a great signing, and that he has world class potential. I’m also a huge fan of Biglia, he’s a top player and will help us tremendously, but there were cheaper options like Badelj. As for Hakan, I… Read more »
It was indeed the summer of our dreams despite the areas we did not cover up properly, no one would have asked for a better squad as this one can sustain our dreams and then expose the few areas we need to address, and if we get our target of a top 4 finish which is very likely, we will have only a few areas of need and the it will be easier to have a perfect team then. I think it is some what greedy to ask for a perfect team now.
No marquee signing but all the same it has been excellent
Allright let’s be real here MIlan bought young players full of potential: Silva Kessie Conti Building a core from them is awesome, also if we take into account Crutone and that we kept Dollarumma. half of the squad awesome players and very young. I missed someone but is giving me a bertolacci smell, im waiting for him to show he is full of potential. also Mauri could be helpful if we recover is former form Proven old players Bonnuci Biglia Kalinic, Borini Mussachio; All right Bonucci was a lucky shot, Biglia only here cause we will play more games and… Read more »
In a few words – very good summer. We have world class CBs, LB, and GK, two young talented RBs, and good cover all around the defense (except for the GK position). Biglia, Kiesse, and Jack are a very strong mid trio, but we lack some depth. Hakan should improve dramatically after he gains more minutes. We have a solid (but not great) striker selection, and a very thin winger selection (again, we really need Hakan here). Some releases were strange in my eyes – selling Kucka (and for two cents) and letting Bacca go without an obligation to buy… Read more »
Awesome job was done. Next year we want Belotti and Sergej Milinkovic-Savic.