Ranking the Top 5 Teenagers to Have Played for AC Milan Since 2000

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Gianluigi Donnarumma has become a fixture in AC Milan's starting XI at just 17.

Young players don't have it easy in Serie A.

The league's tactical complexity causes its coaches to prefer using older players in their starting XI. There are rare exceptions, such as Sassuolo ^[1]'s Domenico Berardi, who broke into the league at 19, but for the most part, teams wait for players to mature—or look for solutions on the transfer market.

But the exceptional youngster can still make his way into the first team, even at the biggest clubs.

AC Milan ^[2], though, is probably one of the worst offenders when it comes to not integrating their young players. They have routinely opted to buy aging players like Sulley Muntari or Michael Essien rather than use their own youth system.

The list of promising youngsters to have only token time with the Rossoneri before being sold off to great success is lengthy: Matteo Darmian, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Riccardo Saponara, and more have all moved away from the San Siro and then seen great success at new teams.

A few particularly talented youngsters have, however, made the cut and found their way into the lineup. Here, we're going to count down the top five teenagers to play for AC Milan since 2000.

There are a few things to consider. First, we are considering only the contribution they made as teenagers. Whatever happened to their careers after they turned 20 has no bearing on this list. Second, they must have played first-team matches, so youth-sector heroes like Hachim Mastour are out.

So who are Milan's best teenagers of the century? Read on to find out.

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Alexander Merkel tees the ball up during his lone season in a Milan shirt.

Now with Udinese ^[3], Merkel transferred into Milan's youth system from Stuttgart in 2008. Two years later, at age 18, he made his team debut on December 8, 2010, as a sub in a UEFA Champions League game against Ajax ^[4].

He made his Serie A debut against Cagliari ^[5] a month later, scoring his first goal that month against Bari ^[6] in the Coppa Italia round of 16.

Over the entire season he made 10 appearances, with that goal against Bari being his lone tally. It's a small sample size, but believe it or not, other than the rest of this list, it's one of the biggest of any player during his teenage years this century.

Merkel's stock was so high at the end of that lone season with Milan, Genoa ^[7] demanded him as part of the deal for Stephan El Shaarawy—a deal that still cost Milan €10 million in addition to him.

Since then, his game has gone downhill. He's since bounced from Genoa to Udinese to a pair of loans at Watford ^[8] and Grasshopper, but that season as an 18-year-old had marked him as an up-and-comer in his time.

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Niang's teenage years set up the success that he's had this year.

M'Baye Niang arrived at Milan as a highly-touted 18-year-old from Caen ^[9].

Able to play wide or as a striker, Niang was a big part of Milan's 2012-13 season. He played in 20 league games that year, as well two in the Coppa Italia and two in the UEFA Champions League.

He recorded one assist in Serie A and scored a goal against Reggina ^[10] in the Coppa Italia. But it was his failure to convert in Europe that marked—or maybe scarred—his season.

With Giampaolo Pazzini injured going into the second leg of Milan's Champions League round of 16 tie with Barcelona, Niang was tabbed to start at the Camp Nou. With Milan clinging to a 2-1 aggregate lead, Niang broke away to latch on to a pass over the top, leaving a pair of Barca defenders in his wake. He was one-on-one with Victor Valdes. It was a golden chance at an away goal that could have changed the complexion of the tie.

Niang's shot beat Valdes—and slammed flush into the far post ^[11].

Barca ended up winning the game 4-0 and the tie 4-2, leaving Milan fans to rue the young Frenchman's miss.

Niang's age-19 season was less successful. He nabbed an assist through eight games in the first half of the year and was then loaned to Montpellier for the season's second half.

While his time as a teenager didn't rack up counting stats, it did show enough of his talent that Milan kept the faith in him until this year, when at 21 he finally broke out. It's for inspiring that confidence that his teenage years are marked as productive.

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El Shaarawy broke into the team as a teen before breaking out for good.

Before his 2012-13 breakout, Stephan El Shaarawy took the field for his Milan debut in 2011-12 as a 19-year-old.

Before he became Il Faraone, he was a promising youngster plucked from the Genoa youth system. He made his debut on September 18, 2011, in what would become a 3-1 loss against Napoli ^[12] at the Stadio San Paolo. Three days later he came on against Udinese and scored his first goal—a 63rd-minute equalizer.

He scored three more goals that season—two in the Coppa Italia and one in February's return match against Udinese that sealed a come-from-behind 2-1 win five minutes from time. He had assisted on the equalizer earlier in the match.

Overall, he played in 22 games in his age-19 season, by its end he had established himself as a candidate to break out—which he did the next season.

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Donnarumma has established himself as a first-team staple at only 17.

Simply put, Donnarumma has been exceptional since making his debut in October.

Donnarumma traveled with the team throughout its preseason tours of France, China and Germany. He played very well, making a few eye-opening saves and beating off World Cup winner Toni Kroos' penalty kick when the Rossoneri took Real Madrid ^[13] to a shootout in their contest during the International Champions Cup.

Regardless of that performance, it was still a surprise to see Donnarumma, then 16 years old, on the main roster going into the season. Usually a player that young is kept in the youth system or at the most sent on loan to teams in Serie B or the third-tier Lega Pro.

Now we know exactly what went into the team's decision.

Since he replaced Diego Lopez on October 25, he has started every game. The only time he missed came on March 13, when he was forced off after 18 minutes when he suffered a head injury against Chievo. In that time, he's proven himself on the level—if not better—than many of the league's other goalkeepers. His acrobatic, world-class saves kept Milan in games and preserved points.

According to Squawka.com ^[14], he made 2.33 saves per match, including a season-high nine in Milan's April 25 loss to Verona ^[15]—a game that would have gotten out of hand had Donnarumma not been there.

He's not at the top of this list because he's only had one season, and because for all the praise he's garnered—deservedly so—he still needs to improve. In particular his footwork and distribution needs to get better—he's come close to making catastrophic mistakes with the ball at his feet this season but has managed to bail himself out.

But he's going to be a teenager for three more years, and if he continues to play like this, and improve, he'll easily be at the top of this countdown for decades.

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Pato debuted for the team at 18.

The name Alexandre Pato is now met with derision from Milan fans, but in his first years with the team he looked like he was going to turn into one of the game's premier goal-scorers.

The Rossoneri signed Pato in August of 2007, when he was only 17. Because of transfer regulations he couldn't play for the team until that January, but when he did, his age-18 and age-19 seasons were incredible.

On January 13, 2008, nine days after his transfer became official, Pato made his debut against Napoli. He scored that day, and Milan won 5-2. Two weeks later he scored his first brace, firing in both goals of a 2-0 home win against Genoa.

Despite only spending half of the 2007-08 season at Milan, Pato scored nine times in 18 games. His next season was even better. He played in all but two games in Serie A the next year, scoring 15 times. He also scored three in six in the UEFA Champions League.

The final total in his two years as a teenager: 27 goals in 62 appearances in all competitions—all while playing on a top team.

Eventually, injuries derailed Pato's career, turning him into one of the 21st century's first big "what if" stories. But those first two seasons were jewels—and the best teenage performance Milan has seen since 2000.