I'm the former Three Lions striker who become the first English player to move to Milan in twenty years

In recent seasons, a sudden trend has seen many British names move to Serie A and experience what life is like in Italy's top flight. 

Scott McTominay's exploits at Napoli have made him the poster boy for the theme, but over in Milan, they've seen a handful of English players make a successful transition to the club. 

Currently, the Rossoneri can boast both Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Fikayo Tomori as part of their ranks, with the latter winning the Serie A title with the club in 2022. 

Kyle Walker and Tammy Abraham are two more England internationals who have also donned the famous black and red stripes, but it's a stark contrast to the landscape in previous decades, where seeing British players move to Serie A was a rare sight. 

In 1961, Jimmy Greaves became the first English player to move to Milan, scoring nine goals in 13 games in a short stint between his spells at Chelsea and Tottenham. However, it would take over twenty years for the next Brit to try his luck at the same club - and it came from an unexpected place. 


 

Trailblazing Blissett 

"To suddenly find yourself in that position was very exciting," Luther Blissett exclusively tells DAZN News, thanks to Online Casino Betrugstest, about the moment the then Watford hitman heard about interest from the Italian giants in the summer of 1983. 

"It was an opportunity to go and play in one of the toughest leagues in the world with some of the most gifted players so it was something I couldn't turn down. And so, yeah, I did it. And I was really pleased that I did because football education-wise, it was second to none for me." 

Blissett had just come off a season that had seen him score 27 league goals as he helped the unfashionable Hornets finish second in the First Division behind winners Liverpool. He also made his debut for the national team. 

With Milan on the lookout for a new focal point in attack, they signed the 25-year-old to make him only the second Englishman to appear for the club, and putting that famous shirt on for the first time is something Blisset remembers like it was yesterday. 

"It was just incredible walking out. And that noise and the smoke and the flares and everything going off, I was like, wow, this is just like when I used to sit and watch bits of it on the TV. And here I am now, I'm actually walking out on the pitch.

"You've got to think back to the club I'd been at. Watford were traditionally a team in the fourth division club. Suddenly we're rubbing shoulders and taking on some of the, you know, the biggest names in English football and getting results.

"So here I am now in Italy, and I'm at one of, if not the biggest club in Europe at that time, AC Milan. It's, you pinch yourself and think, Christ, I'm really here. To be walking out at the San Siro is a very special moment." 

He joined a team that included a young Franco Baresi, whom Blissett waxes lyrical about, saying even then he was 'phenomenal' and wasted as a sweeper because he could have dictated things even more with a role in the middle. 

Then there was Filippo Galli, who ironically went on to play for Watford in the noughties and who Blissett befriended as they both tried to learn each other's language and traded Italian phrases for English. 

But despite the big names and the iconic setting, the striker didn't quite produce the goalscoring performances for the Rossoneri that he had done in England's First Division.

Over the years, much has been made of Blissett's season and performances in Italy, with some at the high end of disrespectful, but looking back, he thinks it was more down to a style and system that just didn't suit the forward. 

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"They weren't a team that took the game to the opposition, rather just sit and wait for it to happen, and we never really took the game to the opposition enough," Blissett recalls. 

"So you found yourself as a lone striker, not getting into the game enough.  And so to be able to affect the game when the players around you aren't also affecting the game, I found that difficult.  

"Looking back, that probably was the single most disappointing thing about it for me, that we didn't at least go out there every game and say, we're going to go for you.

"Because it was a real contrast for me from pre-season to when the season started.  

It literally was like someone flicked a switch and that first game of the season against Ascoli, crikey, nobody wants to pass the ball forward like in England. And that was difficult for me too, because I came from a team where the ball was played regularly to me, where I wanted it." 
 

Getty

He ended the season with five goals in 30 games, but his dabble on the continent only lasted one campaign. With the forward not enjoying the style, he could feel the beginning of the end and despite some interest late on from Torino, it was clear his time in Italy would be coming to an end. 

"Once I was aware of that I couldn't see things really changing drastically to where we were, I thought, am I going to leave or am I going to stay or whatever? I wasn't the one to say, I want to get out of here or whatever. 

"I was willing to see where it was all going and how the team would progress. It wasn't until towards the end of the season that I really, I thought to myself, I can't, I can't stay here because I'm not enjoying the thing that I love doing." 
 

 

Blissett moved back to Watford at the end of the season and would go on to win 14 caps for his country as well as turn out for Bournemouth and West Brom before a short coaching career in non-league. 

These days, the former Milan man, does often checks on his old club and their progress - especially currently, where they top Serie A - but there's little time between all the charity he now focuses on. 

Yet he admits, although his dalliance with the Italian giants was short, it's still something he looks back on proudly. 

Adding, "t didn't end in the way that I'd like it to have been, you know, scoring loads of goals and leaving after a good number of years.  

"But it's still a very memorable part of my life and my career because the fans and the club, all of that, that goes with it. Just being involved in that amazing set-up of Italian football is something I'll always treasure." 

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