Leaving Milan: Not such a good idea?

I was just reading some rumors that Kaka wants to leave Real Madrid to be coached by Ancelotti at Chelsea, and it made me think a bit about players who have left us over the years.

Now of course we haven't lost that many big names (in reality just Sheva and Kaka, but boy did those departures hurt), but Sheva was a massive failure at Chelsea, and Kaka didn't exactly set La Liga on fire last year either (didn't he even get booed off the pitch at some point?).

In fact, with the exception of Gourcuff, who was inexplicably sent away by Carletto, I can't really remember too many players who've done really well after leaving Milan. At least not in this decade. Gila has been a moderate success at Fiorentina, but hardly better than Borriello, in spite of the latter's injury problems.

So I'm starting to wonder if Milan is a really good place to come as a player, perhaps better than most other clubs, because of the "family atmosphere" and all those things that Galliani's always bragging about. At least it should be obvious to most players that even though we may not pay the highest wages, we're a good club to join if you're looking for a place where you can make the most of your abilities and win a trophy or two as well. And that's actually something really valuable, if you ask me.

Those who leave for non-footballing reasons are risking a lot career-wise. We have some good examples like you have pointed out but I don't think it's Milan only.