Home » Rade Krunić 

Rade Krunić 

Position: Midfielder 

Age: 28 (born October 7, 1993) 

Shirt number: 33 

Country: Bosnia and Herzegovina (27 appearances since 2016, 2 goals) 

At AC Milan since: 2019 

The Bosnian international was under the radar for most of his career, having been a relative unknown even if he was in Serbia’s top tier, until Empoli took a chance on him in 2015 after spending a fruitless season with fellow Serie A side Hellas Verona where he laid a big fat egg. 

His debut season saw him play 16 games overall for the club from Florence, as Marco Giampaolo took them to 10^th in the top flight. But the following season (2016-17) saw them relegated to Serie B in a heartbreaking fashion, despite doubling his appearance count to 33 overall in that campaign. 

In between those seasons, he debuted in 2016 in a friendly against Denmark. Overall, he had 27 appearances for Bosnia and Herzegovina, scoring twice in Euro 2020 qualifiers. 

With Giampaolo gone, Krunić remained and played a key role in the midfield alongside Ismaël Bennacer in the second tier, securing promotion with four matches to spare and even clinched the Cadetto in the process as the Bosnian played all his 36 matches and scored five goals there. 

The yo-yo continued in the 2018-19 season, in which reminiscent of their drop two seasons ago, saw Empoli relegated to the Serie B on the final day. After being defeated by Inter, Empoli went down on goal difference as Genoa stayed up despite both clubs tied at 38 points. 

However, Milan brought him and Bennacer by Giampaolo in the 2019 offseason, but the manager has been let go following a disastrous start to the season. Stefano Pioli took over and the pair were kept for the rest of the season. Two seasons later, Krunić won the scudetto with the Rossoneri despite being scoreless and an assist to his name in 35 matches overall.