Top 5 AC Milan signings of all time
AC Milan held the title of the most successful club in the history of club football until very recently when Al-Ahly and Real Madrid surpassed the Rossoneri. While Milan have long been the bastion for Italian footballers and is a club that prides itself on formulating Azzurri greats, they have reached the top echelons of club football based on some amazing moves in the transfer market.
Much like the rest of Italian football, Milan haven’t been big players in the transfer market in the recent past. Yet, whittling down the list of the best signings AC Milan have made to a Top 5 was no easy task, with many a Rossoneri legend missing out – note that this is a list of signings, not youth products, which explains the absence of Paolo Maldini
Here are the best signings AC Milan have ever made:
5 Gunnar Nordahl
A 27-year-old Swedish striker arriving from Sweden mid-season on the 22nd of January 1949 would not have appeared a game-changing signing to many Milan fans, especially with Italian football not looking too keenly upon foreigners at that time. However, Nordahl’s transfer completely changed the transfer policy of Milan, and also re-wrote their record books.
With 16 goals from his first 15 games in his first six months, the Milan faithful were given a sneak preview of what was to come, with Nordholm plundering a club record 210 goals for AC Milan in 257 games, winning a record Capocannonieri award five times, the most of any player in Italian footballing history.
Along his goal-scoring exploits, Nordholm was the inspiration for Milan ending their 44 year wait for a Scudetto, with the Milan striker ending his spell in Italy finishing with two league titles, 4 Coppa Italia trophies and 2 Latin Cups.
Nordholm’s success in his first season had the Milan board displaying their approval of foreign imports by signing fellow Swedes Grunnar Gren and Niels Liedholm to form the famous Gre-No-Li trio, which meant that the Dutch and Brazilian imports to AC Milan in the following decades were welcomed.