The 2024 summer mercato came to an end at midnight and AC Milan made a total of seven signings for the first team, reinforcing various positions. Below, we take a look at the signings and the details of each, from the contract length to the transfer fee.
While the key details of every transfer are listed below, we would recommend signing up for our Substack to get our annual mercato financial breakdown when it drops. In that article, we will outline the exact costs for the Rossoneri and what that means for next summer. And, above all, should they have spent more?
2024 Summer Signings
Alex Jimenez (full-back)
Formula: Buy-out clause triggered
Fee: €5m
From: Real Madrid
Contract: Until 2028 + one-year option
The talented full-back was signed on an initial loan deal last summer and Milan decided to exercise the buy-out this summer. There is supposedly a buy-back in favour of Real Madrid, but for now he’s with the Rossoneri permanently.
Alvaro Morata (striker)
Formula: Permanent transfer
Fee: €13m
From: Atletico Madrid
Contract: €5m per year until 2028 + one-year option
Replacing Olivier Giroud, the No.7 got off to a good start as he found the back of the net in the season opener. However, he’s currently out with a muscle injury and Milan are hoping to have him back after the break. Still, a great signing for that price.
Strahinja Pavlovic (centre-back)
Formula: Permanent transfer
Fee: €18m plus €2m in bonuses
From: RB Salzburg
Contract: €1.5m per year until 2028 + one-year option.
Given the inconsistency of every centre-back except Matteo Gabbia last season, Milan decided enough was enough and brought in the Serbian to bolster the department. He has looked good so far and being left-footed, he already has an edge.
Emerson Royal (right-back)
Formula: Permanent transfer
Fee: €15m plus €2m in bonuses
From: Tottenham
Contract: €2.5m per year until 2028 + one-year option.
The most unpopular signing of the summer, that’s for sure, and his debut against Parma didn’t exactly prove the fans wrong. Tottenham wanted a lot more initially but eventually caved, the question is if Milan got a bargain or if Spurs played them.
Youssouf Fofana (midfielder)
Formula: Permanent transfer
Fee:€23m plus €2m in bonuses
From: Monaco
Contract: €3m per year until 2028 + one-year option.
The most awaited signing of the summer, with Milan taking their time to close the deal with Monaco. An agreement was eventually reached but the feeling is that the Rossoneri could regret not bringing him in sooner.
Silvano Vos (midfielder)
Formula: Permanent transfer
Fee: €2.5m plus €2.5m in bonuses
From: Ajax
Contract: Undisclosed salary until 2029
The young and talented midfielder was a late arrival for the Rossoneri, expected to help out both the first team and the Futuro side this season. Since he’s younger than 22, he will be able to feature in Serie A without being put on the squad list.
Tammy Abraham (striker)
Formula: Season-long loan
Fee: €1-1.5m for the loan
From: Roma
Contract: €4.5m plus bonuses for this season
This operation came to life in the final days of the mercato, with Milan and Roma settling for season-long loans instead of permanent moves for Tammy Abraham and Alexis Saelemaekers. The Rossoneri will pay the striker’s salary, plus a €1.5m loan fee, while the Giallorossi will just pay the winger’s salary.
Fonseca is probably worst signing
Milan has a new tradition of signing rejects to please other teams’ fans and this year it’s Fonseca, Emerson Royal and Abraham. A case could be made also for Morata since Atletico replaced him with Alvarez and Sorloth. Atletico fans are quite happy for that.
Now I have high expectations for Fofana and Pavlovic already showed grinta, which Milan lacks badly.
I just hope Tammy proves to be a hit and we buy him next summer. In theory he should do better than jovic or okafor but idk.
Morata, Pavlo and Fofana should be good additions, Royal I’ve ZeRo expectations. Only that he stops waving his hands when he wants the ball.. Hate when players do that.
Overall we didn’t upgrade too much, but we did get a second team this summer so that’s something. I guess.
“..the question is if Milan got a bargain or if Spurs played them.” Milan played themselves, buying Emerson Royal. That is one purchase I’m really disappointed with.
Second, all the fuzz and time the management spent on Zerkzee and the unclear planning and uncertainties of player personnel
I’ll argue that this Mercato is 6.5-7.0 but I think its worth to notice that we actually was promised a great investment in the attack long before the Mercato started which hasn’t really happened with a cheap Morata deal and a loan swap deal,
Overall it’s not a bad Mercato but its not really that great either and the only transfer I’m actually excited about is the Pavlovic deal which i do consider a shrewd business deal.
6 for me at best.
Vos – Futuro player doesn’t help us now and not sure how good he really is. If he was really good Ajax would not have sold him for a meager 2.5M
Emerson – LOL
Pavlovic – seems to have lots of potential and excited to see him develop
Fofana – great signing
Morata – ok. Age, injury are questions marks. Would have been an ideal backup to a younger striker – but of course we won’t spend big $$ on that
Abraham – question mark. He’s coming off huge injury. Big gamble. If that knee doesn’t hold up or he simply doesn’t return to form – Huge risk
Fonseca – considering those available – 4.5
@Martin – we will never spend big $$ on ANY player. That is not the model. Cheap lower cost signings is the Redbird way. Promises are PR stunts.
This is not enough to beat Inter. Top 4 is the goal. Still no backup to Theo, still no quality RB, still no pure DM except for Benny, etc…
A club that aspires to WIN TITLES doesn’t make so many gambles. But alas like I said the goal of Redbird is UCL qualification each season and to be “competitive” (Scaroni). They proved that yet again with the Fonseca hire.
Good times.
Its just securing for 3rd place in league, With Hope & pray a lot.
Again, the lack of a clear plan is alarming. Going into a season without a clear formation or starting eleven always yields bad results. We are already 5 points off the top, several players still don’t have a set role/position on the pitch, and the coach has already shown some red flags with some of his decisions. The sad part is that our proven players are taking the heat for a collective failure; Calabria, Bennacer, and now Theo and Leao.
Things may get better with time but just like last season, it may be too late. At least Milan Futuro gives me hope.
I agree – POOR PLANNING by management. Pure and simple.
But that is what happens when you always go bargain shopping. You just select players that don’t necessarily fit the system – but – because they are cheap or free you grab them.
4-2-3-1 – with only one pure DM. Genius lol
Of course management will blame Fonseca – easy scapegoat although he hasn’t help his cause thus far. BUT did management even have any faith in him to begin with??? Offering only a one year deal at a low salary (2.5M) with an option to extend??? Hardly inspires any confidence in his ability to lead a project.
This mercato could have been better, but could have been worse. I grant it a score of 6 out of 10.
Morata, Fofana, Pavlovic and Vos are good signings.
Emerson, Abraham, and Jimenez, remains to be seen.
We clearly upgraded the CB position with Pavlovic and the midfield with Fofana (and maybe, after some further development with Futuro, Vos). Morata is probably equivalent to Giroud.
However, we still have holes. No proper LB deputy for Theo. Jimenez doesn’t defend well. No pure DM (maybe Vos can develop into one; maybe Fofana can play there and be successful; we’ll see). No formidable offensive midfielder (we are left with RLC there, or Puli a bit out of position – does better as RW). As RB we have Calabria in decline, and a mediocre replacement in Emerson. The injury that damaged Florenzi will hurt.
So, we did sign some good players and this regard it could have been worse, but we didn’t fill all the holes. And let’s not forget, we didn’t get rid of Ballo and Origi. So, it could also have been better.
Fofana and Pavlovic the only reinforcements worth mentioning but only time will tell if they are what we expect of them.
Emerson a waste of funds and space.
Morata a budget option after we were promised big investment up front. Abraham another budget option but at least it’s only a loan (I’d slap a 5/10 if he was bought out)
Benny is here (for now) so that’s good. Him and Fofana the only ones able to play pivots in this ridiculous 4231.
Apart from Morata and a panic loanee Abraham, they again brought in all from foreign leagues, players who don’t know Serie A, don’t have experience, don’t know what derby means, don’t speak Italian and will need time to settle. Time we don’t really have.
A solid 6.5/10, this team is built to fight for top 4 and nothing more. But as usual, I do hope they prove me wrong and overachieve as they did last season under Pioli.
Good post, Ted. You know your stuff.
I do think that Morata is a reinforcement worth mentioning (he’s got grinta, he plays for the team; he was so eager to come to Milan that he even risked his own marriage as his wife wanted to stay in Spain and now has separated from him). I expect that Morata when healthy (let’s hope he stays healthy) will be a big asset for Milan. And Vos could be an asset after further development.
You are right about Emerson. And let’s hope Abraham doesn’t get injured all the time and doesn’t turn into another Origi – thankfully if this happen, we won’t be stuck with him, given that it’s just a loan).
Other than DM, RB and CAM positions still being shaky, I think the biggest hole is the lack of a suitable deputy for Theo. I don’t think Jimenez is it (good at offense but not at defense). He is at least better than Terracciano; I don’t understand why the coach has Terracciano above Jimenez in the pecking order.
“I think the biggest hole is the lack of a suitable deputy for Theo. I don’t think Jimenez is it (good at offense but not at defense).”
Sounds like the perfect replacement for Theo. He can’t defend either.
I was not against Morata when he was announced, we do need experience and he was an opportunity for 16 millions. But there were also other opportunities where they could bring in what we actually needed.
They decided last summer to go with 433 and thus spent 110 millions to get the players for the system. This summer all we needed was to complete it with a proper DM, ST and deputy LB.
But in my opinion they got it wrong. So I just might change my evaluation and go with you – 6/10
We spent 86.5 M Euro with bonuses. That’s not so bad, although like I said above, it could have been better. If we count CDK’s transfer fee this season although it will paid delayed, we earned 28.5 M Euro. So, we invested 58 M Euro this mercato.
I like it that we didn’t sell Theo, Rafa, or Mike. I like it that we did trim a little our bloated squad (it’s a pity that we didn’t trim it more by finding some fools willing to sign Ballo and Origi).
There were some weird decisions, like getting rid of Kalulu while keeping Thiaw (Kalulu is better than Thiaw) and getting rid of Colombo while keeping Jovic (Colombo is better than Jovic).
Terracciano is useless; should have been sold and a better deputy for Theo should have been found.
Agree with almost all your points.
We could have kept Colombo in an academy trained slot and then still had another player.
I don’t know what we are supposed to do with Terracciano now. Played him at LB all preseason and then we weren’t game him to play him in round 1 when Theo wasn’t fit enough to start.
Then again we don’t play him in round 2 with Theo putting in a lazy shocker.
The out goings were not good.
Nearly all loans and no permanent sales.
Still couldn’t offload Origi and FBT.
I think the only sales were the cheap deals where we get 50 % of future resale.
So very little money came in.
Don’t forget CDK. We got 28.5 M Euro in, with his 22 M and some other minor deals. And yes, not getting rid of Origi and Ballo is bad.
I thought CDK was prolonged with another loan and obligation to buy next summer.
This mercato doesn’t bring in new fans or make me run to the shop to buy a shirt with their name on. Lack of ambitions.
The most important thing for Milan is it has to be cheap. I don’t know if they try to build a team with players that nobody wants.
This mercato doesn’t bring in new fans or make me run to the shop to buy a shirt with their name on. Lack of ambitions.
The most important thing for Milan is it has to be cheap. This team can’t bring the scudetto home.
Success:
– Morata and Tammy are in fact an upgrade over the army of one that Giroud was.
– Fofana: finally something close to a DM
– Pavlo: Thank You
Regrets:
-Simic sale
-Emerson ffs…
-Fonseca: there WERE better options.