AC Milan is a football club that has a lot of great players. For example are the quartet defenders consists of Paolo Maldini, Alessandro Nesta, Jaap Stam and Cafu, or greatest midfielders such as Gennaro Gatusso, Andrea Pirlo, Clarence Seedorf, and Kaka. On the front lines, Milan has Hernan Crespo, Andriy Shevchenko and Jon Dahl Tommason who helped this team to win Champions League in 2006-2007 season.
Since the club was founded in 1899, they have produced many players who are as good as the mentioned names in the previous paragraph, or even better than them. So, who deserves to be crowned as the best AC Milan payer of all time?
10. Zvonimir Boban
Boban is arguably one of the world's best attacking midfielder in the world. He controlled the offensive line of AC Milan in a very classy way. His speed and vision in providing the assists deserves appreciation. At the Rossoneri, he won four Serie A titles and one UEFA Champions League trophy. He also managed to help Croatian national team reach third position in World Cup 1998 along with great players such as Davor Suker and Slaven Bilic.
There is only one disappointing thing in Boban's career as AC Milan player. The fact that he had to leave the club after being replaced by Rui Costa made me really sad, as he still had good potential to shine at Rossoneri.
9. Alessandro Costacurta
For those of you who are not the fans of AC Milan or Serie A, the name of Alessandro Costacurta might sound not as well-known as Paolo Maldini, Franco Baresi, or Mauro Tassotti. However, this fact does not mean that he is not a great player. Costacurta played in most of AC Milan matches, and the amount of his caps in Rossoneri is only less than Franco Baresi and Paolo Maldini.
Although he only scored three goals in his career with AC Milan, Costacurta had essential role in helping his club win a lot of titles. He successfully presented seven five Serie A titles and one UEFA Champions League.
8. Paolo Maldini
He is regarded as one of the greatest defenders of all time. Maldini spent almost 25 years with AC Milan and won the Best Defender accolade at the UEFA Club Football Awards at the age of 39. He was the runner up for FIFA World Player of the Year Award in 1995 just after George Weah. During his entire professional football career, he played 647 times and scored 29 goals for AC Milan.
7. Kaka
Kaka was transferred for Sao Paolo for "only" 8.5 million euro transfer fee. He had been showing promising future since his first match with AC Milan. Slowly, he replaced the position of Rui Costa as the number-one attacking midfielder.
Kaka was awarded with a lot of accolades during his career in AC Milan. Among them are three times Serie A Foreign Footballer of the Year, three-time Serie A Footballer of the Year, and a Ballon d'Or. Those awards become valid proof of Kaka's greatness during his period at AC Milan.
6. Ruud Gullit
As part of the Dutch trio built by Arrigo Sacchi and supported by Silvio Berlusconi's financial power, it is very difficult for me not to include Ruud Gullit into this list. Along with Marco Van Basten in 1987, he immediately became a core player that could not be replaced in AC Milan.
Long before Carles Puyol's messy hairstlye is used as joke materials, Gullit has adapted the same, even messier hairstyle than Puyol. However, his ability on the field speaks so much more. He was a versatile player and possessed high instinct to score goals. In total, he scored 56 goals in 171 appearances for AC Milan.
5. Andriy Shevchenko
It is not a difficult decision to decide whether Andriy Shevchenko will be included into this list or not. He was the second leading scorer of AC Milan with 175 goals.
Arriving in 1999 with a transfer fee of 25 million Euro, he immediately became a public idol in the San Siro. He scored a lot of great goals in important matches. Of all of these goals, it is clear that his goal against Juventus in the UEFA Champions League final 2003 was the most memorable.
The only mistake Shevecneko made in his career was to accept the proposal from Roman Abramovich to move to Chelsea. If he stays in Milan, he probably would probably win more titles and break the record of Gunnar Nordahl as all-time top scorer of AC Milan. Still, his name will always be remembered as one of the greatest players of this club.
4. Franco Baresi
Six Serie A titles, four titles Coppa Italia, three UEFA Champions League titles, and two Serie B titles prove how great Baresi's contribution for AC Milan. He played 719 times during his 20 years career as Milan's player, and spent 15 years among them wearing the captain's armband.
His physical ability, charisma, leadership qualities, and influence on AC Milan are unmatched. To honor his name, Milan decided to retire number six jersey, the number that Baresi wore in most of his career as a professional player.
3. Marco van Basten
I have not born when AC Milan under Arrigo Sacchi's guidance ruled Europe with a trio of Dutch troops. After reading and watching so many references about it, I am sure that Marco van Basten was one of the most important players who contributed to the glory of AC Milan at that time. Not only that, a lot of explanations even said that Van Basten is one of the best players ever in the world. Van Basten also helped Netherlands national team to win Euro Cup in 1988.
Unfortunately, van Basten had to retire very soon because of severe injury. However, during his short period with Milan, he could score 124 goals for AC Milan and presented three Serie A titles and two UEFA Champions League titles to the club. If he only he had the chance to play more game, I am sure van Basten could be the greatest striker in Serie A, even in the world.
2. Gunnar Nordahl
"Well he can double that number, and then add another 26, then, and just then, he has passed Il Canoniere," is a phrase that was spoken by Milan fans when Andriy Shevchenko scored his 100th goal in Serie A. Then, who is the player who earned the nickname as Il Canoniere in that quotes?
He is Gunnar Nordahl, the all time top scorer for Il Diavolo with 226 goals from 257 matches. He is the only foreign player who score more than 200 goals in the top division of Italian football. Nordahl was very agile, fast, and resilient. Nordahl may not as strong as Shevchenko, but he is definitely smarter than him in finding good position and converting chances into goals. He managed to be the top scorer for five seasons in Serie A and often created beautiful goals.
1. Gianni Rivera
Together with Giovanni Trapattoni, Gianni Rivera was the first player who led AC Milan toward its glory periods in Europe. He spent 19 years as Milan's player, an outstanding service period if compared to today's players.
The dedication certainly bore sweet fruit. Rivera won a lot of prestigious titles with AC Milan. He won three Serie A titles, five Coppa Italia titles and two UEFA Champions League titles. The player who received Ballon d'Or award in 1969 was also a part of the Italian national team when they won EURO Cup 1968. Rivera is also ranked fourth in the list of the most capped AC Milan players.
