Zlatan Ibrahimovic made his official entry into his new role as Milan manager, holding his first press conference at Milanello. The Swede, known for his determination and winning mentality, illustrated the new course of the Rossoneri club with clear and decisive words: “I am a winner – began Ibrahimovic -. And I will win. Anyone who knows my mentality knows that I don’t accept losing. I want to win and I will win. Gerry said, ‘Welcome.’ We started from there.”
Ibrahimovic then explained his role within the club: “I am operating partner of Red Bird. My responsibility is in Milan, I work with Furlani and Moncada. I’m involved in everything: Milanello, Casa Milan and Vismara. But it’s not a one man show: everyone has responsibilities.”
The goal: make history
The objective for Ibrahimovic is clear: “Whoever arrives at Milan must do so aware that winning is not enough here, but history must be made. And we will make history.” He then thanked Stefano Pioli for the work done and announced the new coach: “The new coach will be Fonseca. He is a good coach who will bring something new to San Siro. Something new is needed, and Paulo is the right man. We are confident.”
The road to trophies
Ibrahimovic outlined the next step for Milan: “The next step is to strengthen the team. Milan’s objectives are trophies: winning in Italy and in Europe. Milan’s history is also in Europe. In recent years the Club has returned to the top and plays for trophies every year. Milan doesn’t win, Milan makes history. This is the difference between us and others. Whoever joins Milan must have this ambition. Whoever is here and does not have this ambition and these objectives will not have space. Nobody is satisfied with the last season. After a season an evaluation is made, but here at Milan there is no limit: we want to be stronger than we are today.”
New coach: Paulo Fonseca
Ibra officially announced the new Milan coach: “I want to say thanks to Pioli for what he did in Milan, on behalf of the club and on my part personally. The new coach will be Paulo Fonseca. We have studied well and we have set the criteria on what we are looking for and what we want. We chose him to bring his identity to the players we have, for how we want the team to play, with a dominant and attacking game. With all due respect to Pioli, we wanted to bring something new to the players. We studied how he coaches, how he plays, how he prepares matches. After five years, something new was needed. Fonseca is the right man. We are very confident and we believe in it a lot. When we decided to say goodbye to Pioli, we evaluated and spoke with Fonseca. Every day we talk and share the strategy. He has his desires. We also have a very important U23 project for us: we want to link it to the First Team and Fonseca is someone who gives opportunities and responsibility to young people. If you have a genius as a coach and a weak team, you can achieve a miracle once, maybe twice. We want to put the coach in the best possible conditions. In Milan there is a coach, not a manager. We didn’t discuss it with Conte because the criteria we set, with all due respect to him, didn’t have what we were looking for in him.”
The market
Regarding the transfer market, Ibra took stock: “After Giroud’s farewell, there is Jovic, but one place is missing. We’re looking for the attacker. Zirkzee is strong, it’s no secret, he has potential and had a great season. What he spins is reality. Does he look like me? I don’t like comparing a player. He plays his way, he comes from the Dutch school. He is Zirkzee, I was Ibra.” On Inter’s Scudetto victory: “Suffered, no, I don’t suffer. This word is for a loser. Here you’re talking to a winner, so Inter gives us energy to do even more.”
Ibra concluded by ensuring that the top players will remain: “Theo and Maignan remain, Leao too. They are among the strongest players in their roles and have a contract with us, they are happy. We don’t need to sell. Thanks to RedBird’s work we can bring strong players to improve. Last year we laid the foundation. The attacker is not a secret: we want to get him. The market is every day and player reports arrive every day. A thousand calls every day to propose players, they also call you to create situations. To finalize a player is a process we are following. For us, the important thing is the profile: they can also be the best players in the world, but if it’s not in our profile we won’t take them.”
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