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AC Milan report 1,000% increase in season-ticket sales for new campaign

AC Milan have reported a tenfold year-on-year increase in the number of season tickets sold on the opening day of sale on Monday.

Season tickets for the 2017-18 campaign went on sale on Monday morning and by the close of business an increase of 1,000 percent compared to the first day of sales a year ago was being reported by the club's ticket office, according to Gazzetta dello Sport.

Last season, a total of 16,450 season tickets were sold for Milan's home fixtures at the San Siro. The target this year is 30,000, although the record of 43,140 from 2007-08, the year after the Rossoneri last won the Champions League, is also within their sights.

The decline in the sale of season tickets which saw fewer than 20,000 sold for the first time in over 30 years for the 2014-15 campaign, and culminating in last term's historic low, appears certain to reverse thanks to the club's investment in new players this summer.

Andre Silva, Hakan Calhanoglu, Mateo Musacchi, Ricardo Rodriguez, Franck Kessie, Andrea Conti, Lucas Biglia, Fabio Borini and Antonio Donnarumma have all joined, while Leonardo Bonucci is also set to arrive from Juventus as the club's new captain.

The spending is not expected to stop there either, with Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Alvaro Morata and Andrea Belotti also targeted by the club's ambitious new Chinese owners, who acquired the club from Silvio Berlusconi in April.

The cheapest season tickets start at €205, with the first week of sales reserved for current season-ticket holders wanting to renew their tickets before they go on general sale at the end of the month.

Milan will make their return to Europe this season, having qualified for the Europa League. They enter that competition at the end of the month with a trip to Romanian club Universitatea Craiova in the third qualifying round.

Vincenzo Montella's men are currently on a preseason tour of China, where they meet Borussia Dortmund in their first major friendly in Guanghzou on Tuesday as part of the International Champions Cup.