AC Milan certainly look like they're finally on the way back from a place they never should have been in, obscurity. Their transfer dealings from the summer of 2012 might prove why they ended up so far away from the top table of European football.
There was a time when AC Milan were the team in Europe and in Italy and it's not that long ago. In 2003 they won the Champions League, in 2005 they should have repeated the trick if it weren't for Liverpool's miracle and in 2007 they exacted revenge on the Reds in another final.
Between 2002 and 2012 the Rossoneri only once finished outside the top four, finishing fifth in 2008, and in that period they only finished fourth twice with two first places and two runner up spots. In an era when Italian football was the best in Europe.
However things have gone down hill since then and the San Siro club have only once reached the Champions League since after a third place finish in the 2012/13 season.
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In the last few years their Serie A finishes have been eighth, tenth, seventh and sixth, with Coppa Italia final loss last season and a Supercoppa Italia win this season the only things to shout about.
Over time there's been a lot of reasons for their problems but it seems like the summer of 2012 might be the start of it all when Massimo Allegri didn't exactly have the best transfer window, whether it was his fault or not.
Milan sold Thiago Silva and Zlatan Ibrahimovic to PSG and Pato, Antonio Cassano, Alessandro Nesta, Gennaro Gattuso, Clarence Seedorf, Mark van Bommel, Gianluca Zambrotta and Filippo Inzaghi were also sold to retired.
Outside the pair who went to Paris a lot of the other names were on the wane or too old but they were all at very least dressing room leaders and a huge influence on the first team.
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They also didn't replace the outgoing players too well, Mario Balotelli arrived, scoring a decent 12 goals, whilst Giampaolo Pazzini managed 15 so upfront they did pretty well that season.
But neither player stuck around too long and other signings like Nigel de Jong, M'Baye Niang, Bojan Krkic and Sulley Muntari were hardly inspiring for Allegri's side.
Another side we remember being a force are Valencia. Check out how they could have lined up:
The current Juventus manager did manage to get them to a third place finish the next season somehow but he was sacked halfway through January the next season, replaced by Seedorf.
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It never really improved after that with Inzaghi, Siniša Mihajlović, Cristian Brocchi and Vincenzo Montella all given brief runs as manager before Gattuso took the reigns part way through this season.
There are now signs of improvement and they currently sit in sixth, just five points the Champions League spots. The top table is where they belong, let's hope they get back there soon.
Featured Image Credit:Topics: Football News, Serie A, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Thiago Silva, Mario Balotelli, AC Milan, Italy