AC Milan’s 10 biggest sales of all time

Nicholas Hughes

• 20 Sep 2023 08:15 CDT
• 11 min read

One of the most recognisable names in European football, AC Milan have been a powerhouse in Italy for a long time.

The best team in the world in the late 1980s and early 1990s, the Rossoneri have continued to pick up domestic and European titles into the 21st century, with some of the word's best players pulling on the famous red and black stripes.

As well as signing some of the world’s best down the years, Milan have also sold some top talents for some huge transfer fees.

Here are Milan’s 10 biggest sales of all time.

10. Lucas Paqueta – €20m (Lyon, 2020)

Touted as the next Kaka, Lucas Paqueta arrived at Milan for a huge fee from Flamengo in January 2019.

The Brazilian was 21 years old at the time, and the weight of expectation appeared too strong for him as he only lasted a season and a half at San Siro, scoring just one league goal in 37 games.

Lyon came in 18 months ago to offer Paqueta a new opportunity, taking him off Milan’s hands for €20m and giving him a new lease of life, with nine goals and five assists in 30 games in his first season and he has since gone on to join West Ham.

9. Mario Balotelli – €20m (Liverpool, 2014)

Mario Balotelli had come off the best season of his career when he signed for Liverpool in the summer of 2014.

The Italian scored 14 Serie A goals, and Milan capitalised on Liverpool’s desperation for a striker to replace Luis Suarez, drawing €20 million out of the Merseyside club.

Returning to England after winning the Premier League with Manchester City, Balotelli was a disaster at Anfield, scoring one goal and playing only 16 times in the Premier League.

The polarising forward would end up back at Milan on loan a season later, but his career has fallen apart since then.

8. Suso – €21m (Sevilla, 2020)

After struggling to make it into the Liverpool team in the early 2010s, Suso signed for Milan in January 2015 for next to nothing.

A 22-year-old at the time, Suso went on loan to Genoa 12 months later and broke into the Milan side thereafter, becoming a key player for three seasons.

But a disappointing start to the 2019/20 campaign saw him loaned to Sevilla, where he would win a Europa League before making the move permanent in a €21m deal in the summer of 2020.

7. Zlatan Ibrahimovic – €21m (PSG, 2012)

A two-time Scudetto winner with Inter, Zlatan Ibrahimovic joined Milan from Barcelona in 2010, with an initial loan move becoming permanent a year later.

The Swedish superstar won the league in his first season at the club and then scored 28 goals in 32 games in his second campaign, earning him a move to PSG as they were beginning to build their empire in French football.

Zlatan was outstanding in France, scoring 38 goals in his final Ligue 1 season, which made the €21m Milan received for him look nowhere near enough, especially given they had parted with €30m in total fees to sign him.

Ibra made a fairy tale return to San Siro in 2020, sensationally scoring 33 goals in 60 Serie A matches across three seasons with the Rossoneri and leading them to their first Scudetto in 11 years. He retired in 2023 at the age of 41.

6. Krzysztof Piatek – €24m (Hertha Berlin, 2020)

For a brief period of time, Krzysztof Piatek was one of European football’s most in-form strikers, striking fear into Serie A defences.

The Polish forward left his home country for Genoa in 2018 where he scored 13 goals in just half a season, earning an immediate move to Milan in the January transfer window.

Piatek scored a further nine league goals after making that move, but quickly lost his touch the following season, scoring only four times in 18 games.

That prompted another January move, with a loan switch to Hertha Berlin that became permanent in the summer of 2020 for €24m.

5. Leonardo Bonucci – €35m (Juventus, 2018)

In one of the most bizarre transfer ordeals in recent memory, Leonardo Bonucci left Juventus for Milan in 2017 in a shock €42m move.

Having formed an incredible defensive partnership with Giorgio Chiellini and Andrea Barzagli, Bonucci turned his back on the Old Lady and was immediately made captain of Milan.

Bonucci played 35 Serie A games and scored against Juve, but his stint at Milan would be brief and ill-fated.

The centre-half handed a transfer request in the following summer and returned to Juventus for €35m, leaving Milan slightly red faced and €7m short.

4. Thiago Silva – €42m (PSG, 2012)

In the same window that Milan lost Ibra to PSG, Thiago Silva made the same move for twice the price, arriving at Parc des Princes for a fee of €42m.

The Brazilian wore the captain’s armband for the Rossoneri but left the club as he reached his prime, continuing his development to become one of the world’s best centre-backs at PSG.

Silva had signed a five-year contract extension at Milan just two weeks prior to the transfer being completed and had affirmed his desire to remain at the club.

Carlo Ancelotti would ultimately raid his former club, with Silva spending eight years in Paris before a free transfer to Chelsea in 2020, where he remains one of the world's best into his late thirties.

3. Andriy Shevchenko – €44m (Chelsea, 2006)

Ukraine legend Andriy Shevchenko was still in top form for Milan when he joined back-to-back Premier League champions Chelsea for €44m in 2006.

Milan signed Shevchenko as a 23-year-old from his boyhood club Dynamo Kiev, with a €24m fee indicative of the promise he was showing in his career at that early stage.

Shevchenko became one of the world’s best No.9’s during his time at San Siro but never matched it at Chelsea, scoring just nine Premier League goals in 48 games.

The Ukrainian would return to Milan on a one-season loan deal but didn’t score in 18 games before finishing up his career back at Dynamo.

2. Kaka – €67m (Real Madrid, 2009)

Real Madrid went on an absurd spending spree in the summer of 2009, signing Cristiano Ronaldo, Xabi Alonso, Karim Benzema and Kaka.

The latter arrived at the Santiago Bernabeu for €67m, a particularly large fee at the time, after six glory-filled years at Milan.

Kaka won the league and the Champions League at Milan and also claimed the Ballon d’Or during his time there in 2007.

Kaka returned for one season four years later, but neither he nor Milan were the same team.

1. Sandro Tonali – €70m (Newcastle United, 2023)

A move that came out of the blue and blindsided the Rossoneri, boyhood Milanista Sandro Tonali surprisingly left the San Siro in a record deal to join nouveau richer Newcastle United.

The midfielder was supposed to be the second coming of Andrea Pirlo, spending the rest of his career with Milan, but the Magpies acted swiftly and brought Tonali to the Premier League in a deal worth €70m, a record for an Italian player.