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The powers of AC Milan have waned considerably over the last number of years as they have become largely outmuscled by the likes of AS Roma, Juventus and Fiorentina on the domestic stage, as well as falling by the wayside in European competition. It’s been pretty difficult to take for so many Rossoneri fans.Nevertheless, they remain a popular club, with a rich history and a trophy cabinet creaking under the weight of lots of replica silverware, and it’s easy to see why. They have often boasted some of the best players around, particularly during the 1990s and early “noughties” as their Primavera academy produced some world-class performers.The talent pool has dried up considerably in recent years (with the exception of a handful of promising starlets like Hachim Mastour and Gianluigi Donnarumma) and many have begun to wonder whether they will ever produce era-defining players again.So, just who have been the stand-out academy graduates down through the years? Join us in our assessment.Note: Only stand-out players since 1962 have been included as that was when the club’s Primavera side was officially set up and youth development became central to the club’s plans.
#10 Bryan Cristante
Kicking off our slideshow is midfielder Bryan Cristante. Understandably, if you don’t follow Serie A football you won’t know too much about him, but the chances are that the 20-year-old will become a continental sensation in just a few short months.
Reports suggest that Cristante has recently joined Palermo from Benfica on loan, but long before he became the subject of rumour and excitement for fans, he was growing and learning as part of Milan’s development squad. The tidy playmaker was just 14 years of age when he joined the outfit from amateur side Liventina Gorghense and he quickly became the youngest of their players to ever play in the Champions League, an early indication as to just how talented he was.
Since then, he wasn’t exactly allowed to flourish in their senior team, but his several years experience with them from the ground up has certainly helped him become hot property. Oh, what might have been if they’d kept him?
#9 Matteo Darmian
Back in 2000, Matteo Darmian became a key figure in Milan’s youth team set-up when he was just 10 years old. Having spent nine years at the club, it’s fair to say he lived and breathed the Rossoneri way of life enough to consider himself somewhat of an expert.
Although his time there was largely spent outside the confines of the senior set-up, he will certainly have learned a great deal from the experience, and though Manchester United bought an unpolished product from Torino during the summer of 2015, the progress he made at Milan was clearly significant enough to warrant praise from so many quarters.
An interview he had with the Red Devils upon joining underlines precisely how pivotal his long stint with Milan really was: “They helped me grow both as a footballer and as a human being. I consider it a school of life in the sense that they made me grow as a football player and gave everything for me to improve. They used to also ask me about my school grades all the time so they were following me very closely as a human being as well as a sportsman.”
His rapport with Milan will never be as strong as some of the other names on this list, but he is certainly a glowing endorsement of what youthful flair the club can still produce.
#8 Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang
It’s never nice to realise that your club somehow managed to let a genuine talent slip through their fingers. However, that’s precisely what happened to the Serie A club when they decided to offload Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang in 2012.
Having been a part of their youth team back in 2007, the Gabon international was in the mix of players lucky enough to get the chance to join an elite list of Milan club legends. Between one thing and another, it didn’t work out for him and his dream quickly descended into a nightmare as he never got a run-out in the first team.
While he obviously wasn’t deemed good enough at the time, it would be ignorant to suggest his five years with Il Diavolo wasn’t hugely pivotal in his journey and that it gave him a testing start to his professional career.
Perhaps Milan should have recognised his talents sooner, but Aubameyang certainly learned a lot about himself as a player during his time there, and who’s to say the frustration of not getting selected often enough didn’t motivate him and make him a far better player?
#7 Mattia de Sciglio
One of the more recent examples of what the club are capable of nurturing from a young age, Mattia De Sciglio has enjoyed some good spells of form during his short career to date. The 23-year-old is a genuine Rossoneri as he spent close to a decade in the team’s youth academy, getting to grips with its way of life, philosophy and training regimes.
Now, he’s a regular face in the starting XI and has even featured for the Italy national team.
Over the years, he has gone from potentially being the next Maldini (as hinted at by the legend himself) to a defender who has struggled with a weight of expectation. It’s certainly not been easy for him, but he is still only 23 and is having to play in a Milan side that is still coming to terms with being dictated to by teams they would normally have beaten comfortably in their heyday.
The fact remains that when he hits top gear down the left flank, he has the beating of his markers, he is a willing runner and he can help the club revitalise itself in the coming seasons. It’s highly improbable he’ll enjoy a career as rich as Maldini’s but he is a vital fabric of the new team identity and he’s working hard to restore some of the familiar panache they once exuded so often.
#6 Ignazio Abate
Yet another defender to have risen through the ranks of Milan’s youth sector is Ignazio Abate.
Currently a regular starter at right-back, the 29-year-old is still one of the fastest full-backs in the Serie A when he’s in the mood to rush past opponents. Seriously, he can be lightning quick with the ball at his feet, something that earned him rave reviews as he helped them win their first Scudetto in seven years during the 2010/11 season.
It wasn’t always so rosy for the speed demon, though, as he had to fight hard to earn a place in the Milan team, often getting sent out on loan. In fact, he spent five years playing with five different clubs before his original admirers called him back indefinitely.
Abate learned a lot during his time away from the club, but he was sculpted at Milan and he has always been grateful, doing his bit to ensure he’s repaid the time they invested in him when he was still just a young lad.
#5 Cristian Brocchi
Sure, he also played for Inter Milan, but Cristian Brocchi began his youth career in the Red and Black half of the city and is now the head coach of the Primavera youth side. He lives and breathes AC Milan, so despite his stint with the current league leaders, he’s deserving of his spot on our list.
Ushering in a new era of stars, he’s overseeing the next generation and the fact he’s been exactly where they are now will mean a lot to the club. Overall, he won six titles with Il Diavolo before going on to enjoy some great years with S.S Lazio.
Brocchi was an excellent defensive midfielder during his say who rarely shied away from a crunching tackle or a well-timed long-range pass. It’s widely believed that the retired footballer will eventually get a first-team, senior role in the near future. Might his first employers be his destination?
#4 Demetrio Albertini
Conceivably the most skilled playmaker to emerge from the AC Milan youth academy, Demetrio Albertini carved out a very successful career for himself in both Italy and Spain where he won five Serie A crowns, two European Cups as well as providing crucial balance and experience to help Barcelona win their first La Liga title in six years.
He was a really tidy player who possessed a vast array of passing techniques, he could smack a ball with precision and power from long range, he loved to take charge of set-pieces and he provided a calming influence in Milan’s midfield operation for so many years; in many ways he was the prototype for the club’s eventual iconic hero, Andrea Pirlo.
Though he earned his professional debut with the Red and Blacks senior side in 1989 at just 17 years of age, he had already come up through the ranks of the club’s youth system before that, catching the eye of the senior management as he did so.
In short, he might not roll off the tongue when the legends of Serie A are trundled out, but there can be little denying he helped make Milan a great team during the 1990s.
#3 Alessandro Costacurta
Aside from a season-long loan with Monza at the beginning of his career, Alessandro Costacurta was a one-club man who gave 20 years of his professional career to Milan, winning seven Italian league titles as well as playing an integral role in five Champions League victories.
Of course, it all began when he started out in their youth side where he spent seven years and, incredibly, he would eventually go on to play until he was 41 and he actually became the oldest player to score in the Serie A when he converted a penalty against Udinese in his final match for the club.
His defensive duties were carried out with immeasurable diligence as he formed one-quarter of one of the most highly-regarded and meanest of defences. Alongside Paolo Maldini, Franco Baresi and Mauro Tassotti, he helped form a scrupulous defence that amassed nearly 3,000 matches between them.
He was a real icon who gave his all to the club for pretty much his entire career.
#2 Franco Baresi
Italian football has adopted a reputation for being good at producing top-notch defenders, and although it’s not the only department they’ve flourished in, there can be little denying the success they’ve enjoyed there. Indeed, that’s doubly true for Milan especially when looking at the career Franco Baresi enjoyed there.
After all, when the club retire your jersey number in your honour, you must have been doing something right all along. Looking at precisely what Baresi managed to achieve at the famous club, there is one striking aspect to it all; he left a lasting legacy that inspired so many others (and continues to do so) while managing to repay the faith the youth management had invested in him during the early 1970s.
In terms of specific accomplishments, the iconic sweeper captured six league titles, won the European Cup three times, scored 33 goals and racked up a total of 719 appearances across all competitions.
#1 Paolo Maldini
Arguably the greatest player to emerge from AC Milan’s youth system, Paolo Maldini is widely considered to be one of the best defenders and leaders the club ever had, and is lauded far and wide as having been an exceptionally gifted player.
The sheer magnitude of what he helped the club achieve remains gob-smacking to say the very least but it’s all the more impressive when you realise he did it with such tremendous heart and love – he really was the body and soul of Milanese football for so many years.
His five Champions League successes, record 902 appearances, seven Serie A titles and unending defensive brilliance all stemmed from the exceptional grounding he earned during his formative experiences at the club. Having impressed in the youth set-up regularly, it’s little surprise now that he was afforded the opportunity to debut for the senior team at just 16 years of age; a club legend in the truest sense of the word.
