“For us, this a historic moment,” says Milan chairman Paolo Scaroni. “It has taken five or six years to reach this point and we had great support from our owners RedBird.

“San Siro has been excluded by Uefa as a stadium for Euro 2032 – it simply doesn’t have all the facilities that are needed for modern football. We badly need a new stadium.

“We have always had a good relationship with Inter, so it makes sense to continue sharing the new stadium and split the costs of building and running it.”

Though designs will only be published in the first half of 2026 and no completion date has been set, the purchase of the stadium is a crucial step as both clubs aim to return to past glories.

In the late 1990s and early 2000s, Serie A was the world’s pre-eminent football league. Its clubs spent the most money, bought the best players and attracted the attention of fans around the globe.

But over the past 20 years, the division has undergone a steady decline. Its clubs’ performances have dwindled at the elite European level, average attendances at stadiums have dropped significantly and even its most illustrious teams are typically spending less each summer than lower and mid-table Premier League teams.

The long-term drop-off can be tracked by glancing at Milan and Inter’s results in the Uefa Champions League since it was rebranded in 1992.

Despite Inter reaching two finals in recent years, they last won it in 2010 and Milan most recently in 2007, even though only Real Madrid have won the competition more times in total than the Rossoneri.