Editing Ruud Gullit (section)

=== AC Milan ===
Gullit signed for [[AC Milan]] in 1987, paying the then [[World football transfer record|world record transfer fee]] of 18&nbsp;million guilders as a replacement for [[Ray Wilkins]]. Milan's club president [[Silvio Berlusconi]] had an ambition to revive the fortunes of the Italian club which had stagnated after its glory days in the 1960s. Among Gullit's teammates at the club were compatriot [[Marco van Basten]], who came at the same time. Later, they were joined by fellow compatriot, close friend as well as Ajax teammate of van Basten, [[Frank Rijkaard]]. The club also had a young [[Paolo Maldini]], along with a more experienced [[Franco Baresi]]. Gullit's exploits with first PSV and then Milan helped him win the [[Ballon d'Or]] award in [[1987 Ballon d'Or|1987]] which he dedicated to [[Nelson Mandela]].<ref name="Gullit smalltalk">{{Cite news |url=http://sport.guardian.co.uk/smalltalk/story/0,,1565756,00.html |work=The Guardian |location=London |title=Ruud Gullit |first=Paul |last=Doyle |date=9 September 2005 |access-date=23 May 2010 |archive-date=5 January 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080105131120/http://sport.guardian.co.uk/smalltalk/story/0,,1565756,00.html |url-status=live}}</ref>

When he first arrived at Milan, Gullit initially struggled to fit in as he spoke no [[Italian language|Italian]] and was new to living in a foreign country.<ref>Ruud Gullit, My Autobiography, p49</ref> Gullit's first season at Milan, however, saw the club win the ''[[Scudetto]]'' for the first time in nine years, under coach [[Arrigo Sacchi]]. Initially used on the right of an attacking trio alongside van Basten and [[Pietro Paolo Virdis|Pietro Virdis]], after van Basten received an injury it was changed to a front two. The following season Milan built on their domestic success by adding the [[UEFA Champions League|European Cup]] to their list of honours. That performance was followed by a 4–0 victory over [[FC Steaua București|Steaua București]] in the [[1988–89 European Cup#Final|1989]] final, with Gullit scoring two crucial goals. According to Gullit: “The year that we won the Champions League, in the semi-final against [[Real Madrid CF|Real Madrid]] I got injured. My meniscus was broken. I got a very quick operation so that I could play the final. The next season when I started to train again, not only my meniscus was damaged but also the cartilage, so for that reason, I couldn't play almost the whole season. It was hard because I was on the edge of maybe not playing football anymore.".<ref name="Gullit - Milan">{{Cite news | url=https://www.beinsports.com/en-mena/football/uefa-champions-league/articles/ruud-gullit-milan-maestro |work=Bein Sports |location=London |title=Ruud Gullit - Milan Maestro |first=Naz |last=Majeed |date=5 May 2020 |access-date=23 May 2023 |archive-date=18 July 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240718123959/https://www.beinsports.com/en-mena/football/uefa-champions-league/articles/ruud-gullit-milan-maestro |url-status=live}}</ref>

The following year, Milan retained the trophy as they defeated [[S.L. Benfica|Benfica]] in the [[1989–90 European Cup#Final|1990]] final. However, serious injuries sustained to the ligaments of his right knee limited Gullit's playing time, only managed just two domestic games in the 1989–90 season before appearing in the cup final.

In 1990–91, Milan's pursuit of a third consecutive European Cup was cut short by [[Olympique de Marseille|Marseille]] at the quarter-final stage. Having drawn the first leg at the [[San Siro]], Milan trailed to a [[Chris Waddle]] goal with little time remaining when the floodlights went out. After a short delay the lighting was restored, but Milan had returned to their dressing room and refused to return to complete the game. [[UEFA]] awarded Marseille a 3–0 victory and expelled Milan from all European competitions for the following season.

While Milan continued their domestic dominance by winning the [[Serie A|scudetto]] in both [[1991–92 Serie A|1991–92]] (a season in which they went undefeated) and [[1992–93 Serie A|1992–93]], Gullit's position became an increasingly peripheral one under new coach [[Fabio Capello]]. This was demonstrated by his omission from the [[1993 UEFA Champions League Final|1993 Champions League final]] in which Milan lost to Marseille, as under the UEFA rules clubs were only allowed to field three foreigners, which was later abolished after the decision of the [[Bosman ruling]]. Gullit: "After my injury, I was not the Ruud Gullit anymore what I was before. I had to adjust myself to a different way of playing football, because of the injury and because I was that much out of the game. I had to adapt my game, but I could deal with it. But of course, the role at Milan was less important than before, because at that moment the rotation system was introduced. So we were only allowed to have three foreigners. So sometimes you couldn't play. So that was also hard. When you are used to playing most of the games and all of a sudden you have to rest, so that was hard.”.<ref name="Gullit - Milan" />

[[Torino FC|Torino]] was interested in signing him, with the chairman claiming that an agreement with Milan was likely.<ref>[http://hemeroteca-paginas.mundodeportivo.com/EMD01/HEM/1993/07/02/MD19930702-023.pdf El entrenador 'merengue' desmiente el interés por contratar a Gullit] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210212032648/http://hemeroteca-paginas.mundodeportivo.com/EMD01/HEM/1993/07/02/MD19930702-023.pdf |date=12 February 2021 }}. [[Mundo Deportivo]], 2 July 1993</ref> [[FC Bayern Munich|Bayern Munich]] was also in talks with Gullit, but fell through.<ref>{{cite book |last= Vermeegen |first= Harry |date= 1995 |title= Ballenjongen |chapter= Ruud Gullit |location= Utrecht |publisher= A.W. Bruna uitgevers BV |isbn= 90-229-8257-2}}</ref> Instead, Gullit was loaned to [[UC Sampdoria|Sampdoria]].