It’s no secret that AC Milan is currently in the midst of a striking problem. Last summer, the Rossoneri brought in not one but two experienced strikers, namely Alvaro Morata from Atletico Madrid and Tammy Abraham on loan from Roma. The former had just led Spain to European Championship glory as captain in the summer, while the latter was a sensation under Jose Mourinho in the Eternal City.
Unfortunately, however, it hasn’t worked out for either of them. Abraham has managed to chip in with ten goals in 39 games so far this season, while Morata managed a paltry six in 25 before being shipped off to Galatasaray just six months on from his arrival at San Siro.
The club then forked out another €32m to bring in Santiago Gimenez from Feyenoord, but he has managed just three goals since his arrival and has been ousted from the starting line-up.
Winger Christian Pulisic has done his best to chip in, firing home 15 goals in all competitions so far this season. However, it’s no wonder that the Rossoneri have faltered this term thanks to their misfiring strikers.
Pulisic managed to win some plaudits from the bookies, but overall, things aren’t looking great.
Christian Pulisic, American HERO pic.twitter.com/nu8PQLSaPF
— Bovada (@BovadaOfficial) November 29, 2022
Unfortunately for Captain America and Co., online betting odds providers have certainly noticed their recent plight. Milan currently sits down in ninth place in the Serie A table and is nine points adrift of Bologna in fourth place, meaning that Bovada’s live betting odds have pushed them all the way out to 66/1 to finish in the top four this season.
But this recent striking crisis isn’t a new thing. No player has scored more than 20 goals in a season for Milan in the last nine years. But who was that? And who do the Rossoneri’s current strikers need to emulate if they are to start finding the back of the net with regular aplomb?
Honorable mention
Before we get into the players that did actually cross into the coveted 20-a-season territory, there is an honorable mention who certainly got closer than they had any right to. Veteran striker Olivier Giroud was brought to San Siro on a free transfer from Chelsea in the summer of 2021 in the twilight of his career.
He was expected to link up play and bring stars such as Rafael Leao into the game. Ultimately though, he went above and beyond. Despite his advancing years, the Frenchman managed 14 goals in his maiden campaign, before upping that output to 18 in the 2022-23 season.
Last term, he was expected to play a bit-part role, but the woes of strikers such as Luka Jovic and Noah Okafor saw Giroud thrust into the limelight once again, and he managed to fire home 17 goals at the age of 37.
Carlos Bacca
It’s been nine long years since any Milan player – striker or otherwise – has managed to score 20 goals in a single season in all competitions. The last man to do so was Colombian Carlos Bacca.
The poaching striker built up a reputation as somewhat of a hitman throughout his stint with Sevilla, scoring 21 in his first season in Spain before taking that tally up to a mighty 28 in his second campaign.
His brace in the UEFA Europa League final against now-defunct Ukrainian team Dnipro put him in the shop window as one of the most coveted strikers in Europe, and it was Milan who managed to secure his services.
The Rossoneri forked out €30m to bring the former Club Brugge man to San Siro and he duly rewarded them with 20 goals in his maiden campaign – 18 in the league and two in the Coppa Italia.
Unfortunately, in his second campaign, the goals began to dry up. 14 goals weren’t enough to convince the powers that be within the club that Bacca was the man to lead them into the future, and he was sold to Villareal, initially on loan before the deal became permanent.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic
Much like the aforementioned Giroud, in Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s second stint with Milan in the twilight of his career, he did more than anyone expected him to. His 37 goals in 78 appearances despite turning 40 years old was by no means a bad return, especially his 17 goals in the 2020-21 season.
But in his initial run with the club, the maverick Swede was a different beast entirely. He initially signed on loan following a tumultuous spell under Pep Guardiola in Barcelona, netting 21 goals throughout the 2010-11 season and helping the club to the Scudetto.
That prompted the Rossoneri to buy the Swede outright for €24m, and they wouldn’t regret it. Zlatan proceeded to hammer home a mighty 35 goals in 44 appearances, although it wasn’t enough to secure a second straight Serie A title.
Andriy Shevchenko
Back when Andriy Shevchenko was leading the Milan frontline, the San Siro faithful never had to worry about goals. The Ukrainian sensation scored more than 20 goals in all but two of his seven seasons with the Rossoneri.
Throughout that time, he won every trophy available, including the Scudetto, Coppa Italia, Supercoppa Italiana, and the UEFA Champions League. Sheva had many prolific campaigns for the club, but the most recent of them was in his final year in 2005-06.
That year, he scored 28 goals in 40 appearances, taking his overall tally to a whopping 173 in 296 appearances before moving on to Chelsea. He returned to the club in the 2008/09 season on loan, but unfortunately, he wasn’t the same player that left three years prior, netting just twice in 26 games.
Let’s not hurt our feelings thinking of the past and how it’s got much worse