‘Ruben Loftus-Cheek has quickly become an idol of AC Milan supporters,’ said Serie A expert Stefano Buonfino last season. That single line encapsulates the power of the Rossoneri strip.
Watch an AC Milan game with blurry eyes and you might get the feeling you’re watching an old Premier League match.
Saturday’s 4-0 win over Venezia – their first of the season – featured five ex-Premier League stars in the fabled red and black. In total their squad boasts seven, all at various waypoints in their Lombardy quest.
Fikayo Tomori is into his fifth season at the San Siro while others, like Emerson Royal, are taking their first babysteps. Serie A has often been derided as a step down, at best an oasis for rebuilding, but they will tell you different.
Tonight, against Liverpool in the Champions League, Milan’s merry band of Premier League exiles have the chance to prove their credentials at the highest level.
Many familiar faces await Liverpool at AC Milan including a revitalised Ruben Loftus-Cheek
Alvaro Morata is one of their new forward recruits and is undergoing a divorce from Alice Campello, his wife of seven years
Divock Origi, far from his Liverpool heyday, cannot even get a game for AC Milan’s reserves
Loftus-Cheek, Tomori, Emerson, Tammy Abraham, Christian Pulisic, Alvaro Morata – these are the names with a point to prove.
Milan finished second in Serie A last season, 19 points adrift of rivals Inter, but won Serie A under Stefano Pioli in 2022 and reached the semi-finals of the Champions League a year later. They can still be a European heavyweight.
Chelsea academy gem Loftus-Cheek is the main beneficiary. Since leaving Chelsea for £17million last summer, he has been a revelation.
In a box-to-box role last season he scored 10 goals and brought the best out of his dynamic and physical style.
So blossoming was he that in March Mail Sport’s Alvise Cagnazzo advocated for him having a starting place in England’s line-up for the European Championship.
Previously injury prone, he found stability with a changed diet, better climate, and coaches specialised in the prevention of muscle overload.
This week he urged any young footballers reading The Times to consider expanding their horizons rather than just focusing on trying to break through in the Premier League. No wonder, given his rise in Italy.
Milan has redemptive power, then – but not if you’re Divock Origi. At the other end of the scale, the forward has had a torrid time and will be denied a reunion with Liverpool tonight.
Morata and Campello split amicably and have aimed to stifle rumours of discord
Christian Pulisic had the best season of his career in 2023-24 – could he hurt Liverpool?
Why? Well, though a much-loved cult hero at Liverpool, remembered for his brace against Barcelona in the Champions League semi-finals, the final goal against Tottenham, and his knack of scoring against Everton, he has been left to rot in the reserves at Milan two years after joining on a free transfer.
Milan legend and former director Paolo Maldini claimed he could be a ‘great footballer’ and the club brought him in on the second-highest wage behind Rafael Leao.
But a return of two goals in his first season saw him deemed surplus to requirements last summer – with Maldini out the door and unable to defend him – and he has not played for them since, via a loan at Nottingham Forest.
Sadly for Origi, he has not even played for the reserves, Milan Futuro, in Serie C, a side composed largely of under-23s players.
Not that his demise leaves them short-stocked up top. They can call on Luka Jovic, Abraham, or Morata in the striker department, the latter two of which will be very familiar to English audiences.
By this stage Abraham is a minor veteran in Serie A. He arrives in Italy’s fashion capital on the back of three years with Roma which provided as many questions as answers.
The first? Prolific. After leaving Chelsea – there’s a theme here – he scored 27 goals in all competitions under Jose Mourinho and broke the record for the most goals in a Serie A season from an Englishman, bagging 17. There were also huge personal moments for him in Rome – last year he welcomed his son Amari.
However, an inconsistent second campaign was followed by a cruciate ligament injury in June 2023, ruling him out for most of last season. On his return he only scored once in 12 games and Roma decided to purge their books of his gargantuan salary this summer.
Fikayo Tomori has won a title with Milan and has a chance to show the English public his quality after being left out of the Euro 2024 squad
Tammy Abraham is off the mark after sealing a summer move from Roma, where he was initially prolific but struggled with injury
Emerson Royal has been slammed for his early-season form since leaving Tottenham for £15m
So Abraham is something of an unknown quantity, while it remains to be seen how Morata will cope with the upheaval in his personal life.
Former Chelsea frontman Morata arrives as a Euro 2024-winning captain but also single, having split from his wife of seven years Alice Campello in August.
They have insisted on their undying love for each other and divorce proceedings are thought to be ensuing amicably. The pair have sought to dismiss any scurrilous rumours – or ‘bulls***’, the phrase Campello deployed – after Morata was accused of being in explicit photographs with another woman.
According to Marca, the duo had a ‘fight’ on the pitch after Spain beat England in the Euro 2024 final. It is claimed that Alice was keen for only herself, her children and her friends to be on the pitch to celebrate with Morata, and didn’t want the Spain captain’s parents or family present, leading to the slide of their relationship.
In this light Morata, 31, comes to Milan on the back of two successful seasons with Atletico Madrid, scoring 36 goals in that time. His time with Chelsea flattered to deceive but don’t be fooled – he is still a leading striker.
Further back the grid, on the right wing, Pulisic is in the form of his life. ‘Captain America’ earned rave reviews in the Italian press last year despite the chaos enveloping Milan.
A haul of 15 goals and 11 assists last campaign was the best in his career. But fans are still waiting for him to produce on the big stage – none of those came against Inter or Juventus, and he was ineffectual as Milan were knocked out of the Europa League and Italian Cup by Roma and Atalanta respectively.
At the back, Tomori’s stock has fallen amid increasingly error-prone antics.
Former Roma manager Paulo Fonseca has taken the reins at the San Siro giants
AC Milan bagged their first win of the season at the weekend as they thumped Venezia 4-0
He didn’t even make Gareth Southgate’s 33-man provisional squad. Yet he retains the loyalty of the Milanese faithful, who made him chuckle with an X-rated chant against the former England boss after finding out about his omission.
After all, Tomori has still won a Serie A title with them and was in the Serie A team of the year for 2021-22. West Ham were keen on him this summer.
If Tomori does anything this year, it wouldn’t hurt to help Emerson settle in after his £15m move from Tottenham, where he struggled to find consistency.
Rossoneri fans were slightly underwhelmed by the signing, having favoured a swoop for Lille’s 22-year-old Tiago Santos.
Writing for the Athletic, Serie A doyen James Horncastle slammed the signing as ‘the biggest donation in the history of Fondazione Milan as the club charitably tries to make his wish to become a footballer come true’ after Emerson’s initial struggles in Italy.
Milan have been weak down the right side where Emerson tries to hold fort, and that was evident in the 2-2 draw with Lazio where he was easily surpassed for both goals. He wasn’t even on the screen as Lazio’s first nestled in the net.
Despite a stuttering start to the season, Paulo Fonseca’s side have the potential to spring a surprise tonight, and there is none more painful than one inflicted by a familiar face. At stake: pride for Milan and Italian football, bragging rights for any supporters with an old link to one of their stars.