“First of all I want to thank Stefano Pioli on behalf of the entire club. I also had him as a player and he made history. He deserves all the compliments. The new Milan coach will be Paulo Fonseca. We thought carefully about it, we have chosen for his identity. But also for how the team will play, in an offensive and dominant way. We wanted to bring something new to the pitch and also to these players. We are very confident and we believe in it a lot.” With these words Zlatan Ibrahimovic, now Senior Advidor of RedBird, confirmed the rumors that had recently circulated about the Portuguese coach during the press conference to present the Rossoneri 2024/2025 season. Further confirmation also came from Milan’s official social channels. Fonseca signs a three-year contract.
Ibra’s role at Milan and the other names on the bench
“We wanted to bring something new, we studied how he coaches, how he prepares matches. After five years, something new was needed”, reiterated the former Rossoneri star, also clarifying other names that have been circulating recently. “Conte is a great coach, but with all due respect, he wasn’t what we were looking for. In the newspapers every day there was a different coach: Ibra wanted one, Moncada another, Furlani another, Cardinale a fourth, the fans a fifth.. There is a rumor going around and a reality. We discussed some names that we put on the table and we talked about what was best for the team and in the end Fonseca was better”, added Ibra, also explaining in fact his new role. “I am an operating partner of RedBird, I take care of Milan. I work very close to Cardinale, I am in close contact with Moncada and Furlani. I am present at Milanello and Casa Milan. But it is not a one man show, everyone does their part. This it’s a team”, he underlined, as explained in detail by Sky Sport.
Who is Fonseca
Fonseca’s first great experience on a bench came in 2013 when he replaced Vítor Pereira at Porto. On 5 March 2014, due to poor results in the championship, he was relieved of his duties, only to return to Paços Ferreira, where he had already coached previously. In July 2015 he signed a two-year contract with Braga but a year later his signing from Shakhtar Donetsk, in Ukraine, was made official. Here in 3 years he put together 139 matches (103 wins, 19 draws and 17 defeats) with 7 trophies won. On 11 June 2019 he became the coach of Roma, with whom he signed a two-year contract with an option to renew for the third but on 4 May 2021 the Giallorossi club announced its separation from the Portuguese coach at the end of the season. In June 2022, Fonseca signed a two-year contract with Lille, France. In the 2023-2024 championship the team finished in fourth place, missing out on qualifying for the Champions League by two points. At the end of the same season, the coach leaves the French club, at the natural end of his contract. Now, the second adventure on a Serie A bench.
