4) Diego Milito
While many great strikers have graced the legendary blue and black jersey of the Nerazzurri like Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Christian Vieri and Ronaldo De Lima, no one has made the kind of impact in a single season like Diego Milito. In his debut season at the San Siro, he helped Inter achieve the impossible treble under Jose Mourinho.
Signed in 2009 from Genoa for €28 million as a 29-year-old, he made 128 appearances for the club scoring 62 goals. The transfer at that time raised a few eyebrows but no one was doubting him after the end of 2009-10 season in which Internazionale became one of only four teams to have won the treble.
Diego Milito scored the two goals in the Champions League final that helped Inter win 2-0 against Bayern Munich,was the top scorer in Serie A that season, in the process helping Inter win another Scudetto and also scored the only goal in the Coppa Italia final against Roma.
Along with team success, individual accolades followed as he was named the European footballer of the year by UEFA as well as being named as the Serie A footballer of the year. In his praise after the treble success the Guardian wrote “Vision, timing, flawless technique and sangfroid – these two goals had everything a great striker needs, plus a sense of lyricism in the fluency of his movement. The 30-year-old Milito is hardly a fancy striker, not a Messi taking your breath away with a trick or a Tevez galvanising the stadium with elemental force, but his economy has been just as devastating.”
No player in his debut season has achieved as much as Milito did and his contributions for Inter in the 2009-10 season will forever be etched in the hearts of Inter fans and certainly, the unknown striker from Genoa proved himself to be one of the greatest Inter signings of all time.
