Milan coach: what we know
The name isn’t there yet but the profile sought is clear and defined: young, international, with a modern game proposal, capable of working as a team with the club’s technical area. Milan is looking for a coach for next season, given that Stefano Pioli’s adventure after four and a half years (and a championship) seems to have come to an end, but what do we really know so far? What is going on? With what timescales? And above all, who will it be?
Much has been said, much has been written, but the real scenario is this: at the moment no definitive choice has been made. So it’s not true that the coach has been chosen and it just needs to be announced. The board (Cardinale, Furlani, Moncada, the super consultant Ibrahimovic) does not intend to rush and will take all its time, knowing that the choice is delicate. There is no shortage of time, even if it isn’t very much. Now we have to tighten up.
Pioli: why Milan doesn’t speak
First of all, however, Pioli’s contract must be resolved. which will expire only in a year, on 30 June 2025. It is therefore necessary to first find an agreement with him and his large staff: they are dealing with a significant sum, around 10 million in salaries and taxes, it is not a detail, quite the opposite. Milan’s media silence on the future of the bench is motivated by thisas well as a form of respect towards a coach who has done very well in recent years and who will finish in second place this season. The truth is that in fact he would have stayed until the end of the contract, if the situation had not worsened in the last month between elimination from the Europa League and yet another derby nightmare.
However, it is clear that reflections and insights on succession are on the agenda. There isn’t a big player in Milan’s mind. So it won’t be Antonio Conte, the fans’ favorite, but considered not functional to the project by the managers. To date the profile of Conceicao of Porto is one of the hottest, together with that of another Portuguese, Fonseca, leaving Lille. Thiago Motta remains highly appreciated, but difficult to reach: Juventus has the advantage if he really leaves Bologna who are now qualified for the Champions League. Gallardo, former River, now freed from Al Ittihad, is not convincing: he has never coached in Europe.
Lopetegui had not been convincing since before the social protest
In this scenario, watch out for prosecutors: they are often the ones who spread the rumors. Lopetegui was one of the profiles examined, along with many others, but he was not convincing even before the fans’ social protest when his name came out. In fact, we had never gone beyond a few conversations: no pre-contract, none of this. In fact, he was then discarded, without regrets. De Zerbi, Italian, who grew up at Milan, now at Brighton, would meet many of the requirements. But to free him from the Premier club you need 15 million. Milan’s position at the moment is clear: coaches are not players, they cannot be bought.
Farioli towards Ajax, Sarri never contacted
Farioli, also Italian, a former collaborator of De Zerbi, considered a baby prodigy on the bench, he will probably leave Nice for Ajax. A profile that is very popular, almost ideal, if he had still gained, let’s say, intermediate experience. In short: paths could cross in the future.
There was talk of Sarri, but he was never contacted. Age and peculiarities different from the Rossoneri ideas. From Milan, who will continue to work behind the scenes until the end of the championship, therefore for another couple of weeks, it is clear that the list is not closed at all: these are very hot days, the risk of the benches always gives rise to new connections, therefore new dossiers could emerge.
The player market
In the meantime, however, the player market is already moving: Leipzig’s Sesko is on pole for the center forward role. Do you choose the striker without having the coach? Yes, because that’s how it’s done: the players are the club’s assets and therefore the club must choose them. The days of a shopping list for a technician who then perhaps stays for a year are over, it was another world and another football, today the coach is entrusted with the managerial task of making the most of the human material at his disposal, obviously giving his own indications, his own suggestions. Because the coaches go and the clubs stay. This is how modern football works.
