Adidas are coming home to Milan. Here's what they owe us
When I first got into football, Milan were the sexy European giant. Part of that was Ruud Gullit. He was there with Marco van Basten and Frank Rijkaard, the same Dutchmen I had watched win Euro 88, and that added to the fascination. There has been an adoration there ever since.
Marco van Basten in Milan's first adidas home shirt, early 1990s. Photo: unknown author, public domain.
I have their 1988 shirt, made by Kappa, with Mediolanum on the front and the 10 on the back for Gullit. It looks a lot like the adidas shirt that replaced it in 1990, and the two Milan shirts I have always wanted are both adidas. One is the 1992–93 away: white, Motta across the chest and a red and black band running through it. The other is the 1999–2000 centenary home, with thin stripes in place of the usual wide ones.
My 1988 Milan shirt, with the 10 for Gullit.
So this month's news caught my eye. Reports in Italy say Milan are in advanced talks to go back to adidas when Puma's contract ends after the 2027–28 season. Nothing is signed, and the club says Puma remain an important partner until then. If it happens, it will be adidas's fourth spell with Milan, after 1978–80, 1990–93 and twenty years from 1998 to 2018.
That last stretch is the one I lived through. Kaká in the black third shirt of 2006–07, with red and gold trim and Bwin across the front. Ronaldo with 99 on his back, and Ronaldinho with 80. That era is special.
Kaká against Torino at San Siro, 19 April 2009. Photo: Tsutomu Takasu, CC BY 2.0.
I saw Milan win the Champions League twice in person. The first was at Old Trafford in 2003, an all-Italian final against Juventus that went to penalties. The second was Athens in 2007, against my own team. Inzaghi scored both of Milan's goals and Liverpool lost 2–1. I had a ticket for the final in between as well, Istanbul in 2005, the one Liverpool won, and I didn't go. It is the biggest regret of my life, and a story for another time.
Puma took over in the summer of 2018. For me those years have been almost a total write-off. I liked the 2023–24 away, and the fourth shirt Puma made with the Los Angeles label Pleasures that same season. A couple of the other special editions were nice. Most of the rest I couldn't pick out of a line-up now, and I don't think I'm alone: Footy Headlines readers voted the 2021–22 fourth shirt the worst kit of April 2022.
What adidas owe Milan is what they have already given other clubs. In August 2024 the trefoil came back on the third shirts of Real Madrid, Manchester United, Arsenal, Bayern and Juventus. Adidas has kept that logo for its Originals line since 2000, so putting it back on a club shirt means something.
Milan should get the same treatment, and few clubs have more to work with. The trefoil was on the chest of their first adidas shirt in 1990. The centenary stripes are sitting in the archive. The white away with the band across the chest is there too. Adidas knows this club, because it has made its shirts three times before, and that history is the reason this could be done to a level Puma never reached.
The earliest it could happen is the 2028–29 season, with an announcement not expected for a while yet. Until something is signed I'll keep the 1988 shirt where it is, next to a space for the two I still want.