IT is a path that hasn’t been trodden too often over the course of the history of both clubs, yet Rangers and AC Milan have shared a host of players who have brought joy to their respective supporters.
Indeed, Clinton Nsiala becomes the latest player to swap the glitz-and-glamour of Milan, the fashion capital of the world, for the powder keg surroundings of Glasgow.
And yet the 20-year-old will be all too familiar with the pressures involved at a big club where there is a demand to deliver tangible success, having been a regular fixture in the youth ranks of AC Milan and as part of Stefano Pioli’s squad in last season’s UEFA Champions League campaign.
Similarly, Nsiala is sure to be clued up on the life and career of Mark Hateley, who, prior to arriving at Ibrox in 1990 and helping the club on their way to nine-in-a-row, first rose to stardom with the Rossoneri.
It was from Portsmouth where AC Milan picked up a then 22-year-old Hateley, whose flowing, jet-black locks were as Italian as they come.
His footballing ability, in the meantime, was without doubt, making over 60 appearances for the Serie A side in three years and being most remembered for an iconic towering header in a victory over rivals Inter less than six months into his Milan career.
Fulvio Collovati, once on the books of AC Milan, was the unfortunate victim, with Hateley’s strike delivering a 2-1 triumph for the red-and-black of Milan and ending a torturous six-year wait for a victory in the Milan Derby.
“I keep two huge photos of that goal on my wall at home, one in black and white and one in colour,” the former Gers forward once remarked. “It was one of the most beautiful and important goals of my life, a joyous moment for all of us and especially for the fans after a number of difficult years.”
Hateley is held in such affection among Milan supporters that the image of the Englishman towering over Collovati was immortalised in a tifo ahead of the Milan Derby in 2015.
“When I saw my face represented in the choreography I was shocked,” said Hateley. “My colleagues were discussing the game while I remained stupefied, lost in that image.”
Hateley played in Milan with future Rangers teammate Ray Wilkins, with the pair symbolising the widespread British influence on Italian football in the 1980s.
Indeed, Wilkins admitted that the transition to life in Milan was made easier by the arrival of Hateley in the same summer transfer window, although the pair could do little to hoist Milan back to the summit of Italian football.
Hellas Verona, Juventus and Napoli, spearheaded by the late and great Diego Maradona, could count themselves among Serie A winners during the three years in which both Hateley and Wilkins called the San Siro their home.
The summer of 1987 soon arrived and it marked the end of the duo’s spell in the Italian city.
“When you’ve got the likes of Gullit, Van Basten and Rijkaard coming in there are not too many players who can keep them out of the team,” the late Wilkins once said. “Mark and I certainly weren’t good enough to keep them out.”
A player who is perhaps more remembered on the shores of Scotland – certainly for those of a Rangers persuasion – than for his AC Milan exploits was a certain Brian Laudrup.
Laudrup’s career took him via the San Siro by consequence of Fiorentina’s relegation, joining the Rossoneri on loan and being part of a star-studded squad eyeing league and continental dominance.
And they achieved duly that as, for the first in the club’s history, Milan lifted the Scudetto and Champions League in the same campaign. But for Laudrup, it was a triumph spent largely on the periphery.
The Dane made just 14 appearances under Fabio Cappello as the old-school Italian boss preferred a more defensively robust unit as opposed to Laudrup’s slaloming attacking drives, which culminated in him being omitted from the squad for the 1994 European Cup final triumph over Barcelona.
“We won Serie A and we won the European Cup, but I never really felt that I was part of that team,” Laudrup said. “I played seven games in Europe, so I did my bit. I’m proud of the medals. They’re part of my history.”
It was only fitting, then, that Laudrup returned to Ibrox when a Rangers Legends side squared off against an AC Milan Legends outfit including the legendary Franco Baresi in March 2012, with Ally McCoist’s strike proving the difference.
Three years earlier, the two clubs went at it for real in a mid-season friendly at Ibrox played in front of a crowd of 45,000 buoyant Rangers supporters.
Rangers were grateful to Maurice Edu and Sasa Papac for the goals on the evening, yet the game was most remembered for a 17-year-old John Fleck crumpling Felipe Mattioni in the opening minutes, which drew a deathly stare from Milan boss Carlo Ancelotti.
In the summer of 2002, meanwhile, Milan were the visitors to Ibrox in a clash which played out a similar 2-2 scoreline.
Mikel Arteta, whose poise and composure from the penalty spot would deliver Alex McLeish’s side the ultimate last day league title triumph at the conclusion of that same season, would make his Rangers debut in the friendly clash.
The Gers support also showed their appreciation for the returning Gennaro Gattuso on the AC Milan side that day.
Indeed, the Italian midfielder only spent a year at Ibrox before he was sold to Salernitana for £4 million in October 1998.
And yet it was a year that, quite possibly, could never have materialised, with Gattuso initially reluctant to depart his homeland of Italy for the shores of Britain.
"I didn't want to leave and I told this to my father,” Gattuso once remarked. "He told me that the money they were offering was so much he couldn't even write down the total figure. He told me it was four times his total earnings in his lifetime.
"When I still said no, he said he would punch me if I didn't accept it, so I signed for Rangers!"
It was in Scotland where the midfielder met his wife, with his career taking him to the lofty heights of AC Milan to the tune of over 300 appearances and two Champions League winners’ medals.
Such was the relationship between Gattuso and Walter Smith that, after winning the FIFA Club World Cup in 2007, the Italian trained with Smith’s Rangers side to maintain his fitness over the winter break while his wife visited family in Scotland.
It means that Nsiala doesn’t need to look too far for inspiration on players who have left an indelible mark in the hearts and minds of Rangers supporters, and the 20-year-old will be keen to continue a tradition of talented players who have donned the red-and-white of AC Milan and the royal blue of the Gers over the course of their careers.
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