Rome, July 25: AC Milan have been on a spending spree this Summer after their new Chinese owner handed them a big transfer kitty to revive the squad.

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The Rossoneri have already signed as many as 10 new players in their squad with the likes of Andre Silva, Lucas Biglia, Frank Kessie, Hakan Calhanglou, Andrea Conti and their biggest capture of them all, Leonardo Bonucci.

Former AC Milan captain and Italy legend Paolo Maldini hailed his former club's coup of Leonardo Bonucci from rival Juventus and claimed the high profile defender can guide the revamped Milan team for better performances this season.

The five-time European champion insisted that Bonucci is one of the best defenders in the world and if the whole team perform to their standards they can pose a massive challenge in the Champions league stage in the upcoming season.

"It's certainly difficult to find [good] centre-backs and Bonucci's one of the best," Maldini told 'Sky Italia'.

"Bonucci's certainly an excellent buy. It seems a bit early for them [Milan] to go for the Scudetto, but they'll fight for a place in the Champions League."

Milan haven't finished higher than sixth in Serie A since 2012/13 and even finished as low as 10th in 2014/15 season. They only secured two minor trophies in the last six years after winning the league in 2011, with two Supercoppa Italiana.

Juventus have been dominating Serie A since the fall of the Milan club and have won six consecutive titles during this period.

Maldini also added, despite losing a key player in Bonucci, Juventus will continue to be the team to beat for the time being and it is early to predict next year's Scudetto champion before the transfer window ends.

"First of all, we have to say the transfer window is still open and that we have to wait until it's closed before we can pass judgement on any team," he said.

"But Juve's strength is their group, which has been in place for several years now."

Milan will be plying their trade in this season's Europa league campaign and be returning to European football after a long gap of three years.

The Italian side will be playing their first match in the competition on 27th July against Romanian side Universitatea Craiova for the third qualifying round and Vincent Montella's team will be surely looking for a positive result this time to announce their return to Eurpoean football.

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