The summer of 2012 was the first truly outward sign of the financial distress AC Milan has suffered through over the last half a decade.
It was then that the club sold both Thiago Silva and Zlatan Ibrahimovic to Paris Saint-Germain. The pair netted €63 million combined—and left sizable holes in both the front and back lines.
In the seasons that followed neither hole was adequately filled. And while the void left by Silva is still gaping, the investment coming Milan's way from Thai businessman Bee Taechaubol may have fueled the move that has finally given Milan the kind of player that can provide what Ibrahimovic once did.