The summer mercato has been heavily debated among AC Milan fans but based on the stats, it’s the best in a long time. Christian Pulisic has been clutch in many games and Tijjani Reijnders is starting to perform on a consistently high level, as a report highlights.
Geoffrey Moncada and Giorgio Furlani took over the mercato duties from Paolo Maldini and Ricky Massara in the summer. A total of ten signings were brought in, using the money from Sandro Tonali’s sale, and you can read our Substack breakdown of it all here.
As highlighted by today’s edition of Gazzetta dello Sport (see photo below), it is the best summer mercato since the 2004-05 season, i.e. 19 years ago. Milan’s new signings have scored 21 goals this season, 46% of the total goals scored, in addition to 13 assists.
The ten signings cost Milan a total of €113m and this means that each goal has cost the Rossoneri around €5.4m. A total of €19m could be added in bonuses, but of course the cost for each goal will only go down from here.
Taking a look at the numbers in the league, with 16 goals from the new signings across five players, it’s the best impact Milan have received from new signings since 2004-05. In 2012-13, the Rossoneri also signed ten players but ended the first half with 14 goals from these signings.
In 2017-18, the disastrous season, Milan spent over €200m on eleven reinforcements and they only managed 9 goals in the first half of the Serie A season. In short, the summer mercato was the best in a long time.
Christian Pulisic is the undisputed star this season with seven goals and six assists in all competitions. After a tough year at Chelsea, he has regained his form and has come in clutch for Milan several times. Luka Jovic has also started scoring, following a slow start to the season.
Of course, goals are not the only way to determine the impact of the signings. But even with that considered, Milan have done really well as Tijjani Reinjders is a great example. He has two goals to his name but above all, he’s become a crucial player in the midfield.
Milan are still waiting on the breakthroughs of Samuel Chukwueze and Noah Okafor, but there is great optimism regarding these.
