Who is Milan-linked Krösche and who are his best signings?

Monday’s reports claim that Markus Krösche has ‘said yes’ to the idea of taking over as the new technical director of Milan, but who is the 45-year-old executive and who are his most notable signings to date?

Krösche is a former holding midfielder who came through the youth and reserve ranks at Werder Bremen before joining SC Padderborn in 2001, where he would go on to spend the rest of his playing career. His 356 league outings for the German outfit makes him the club’s all-time record appearance holder.

Upon his retirement in 2014, Krösche has a brief stint in charge of SC Padderborn II, the club’s reserve side before going on to serve as an assistant coach to Roger Schmidt at Bayer Leverkusen between 2015 and 2017.

Krösche left Leverkusen when Schmidt was sacked towards the end of the 2016-17 season and decided to return to Padderborn in the role of managing director.

While in charge of Padderborn, Krösche oversaw back-to-back promotions from the third tier of German football to the top flight, which was only the second time in the club’s history that the club had featured in the Bundesliga.

This success earned Krösche a move to RB Leipzig to take over as sporting director, where he would serve for two seasons between 2019 and 2021.

Since 2021, he has been with Eintracht Frankfurt, where he remains under contract until 2028, and is currently a member of the club’s board under the title ‘board member for sport’.

Krösche has overseen the transfers of a number of high-profile players across his time with Leipzig and Frankfurt, including the likes of Dani Olmo, Josko Gvardiol, Randal Kolo Muani and Hugo Ekitike.

Below is a list of his most prominent and most profitable signings to date.

Ademola Lookman: Everton → RB Leipzig (€18m)

Christopher Nkunku: PSG → RB Leipzig (€19.5m, later sold to Chelsea for €60m)

Dani Olmo: Dinamo Zagreb → RB Leipzig (€34m, later sold to Barcelona for €61m)

Josko Gvardiol: Dinamo Zagreb → RB Leipzig (€36m, later sold to Manchester City for €90m)

Lazar Samardzic: Hertha BSC → RB Leipzig (€500,000)

Josep Martinez: Las Palmas → RB Leipzig (€2.5m)

Randal Kolo Muani: FC Nantes → Eintracht Frankfurt (free, later sold to PSG for €95m)

Mario Götze: PSV → Eintracht Frankfurt (€4.5m)

Omar Marmoush: Wolfsbury → Eintracht Frankfurt (free, later sold to Manchester City for €75m)

Willian Pacho: Royal Antwerp → Eintracht Frankfurt (€13.5m, later sold to PSG for €40m)

Nathaniel Brown: 1.FC Nuremberg → Eintracht Frankfurt (€5.5m)

Hugo Ekitike: PSG → Eintracht Frankfurt (€31.5m, later sold to Liverpool for €95m)