While AC Milan are preparing to take on Fiorentina at San Siro tonight, there is another game being played away from the field: the hiring of a new sporting director.
La Gazzetta dello Sport (seen below) report that Giorgio Furlani has made it clear what the basic principle is for the hiring of a new director: they will work as part of a team, therefore in conjunction with the other current management figures.
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The negotiation with Fabio Paratici, formerly of Juventus and Tottenham, had almost reached its destination. It came ahead of schedule given Furlani spoke of patience, which was seen as an advantage to exploit all the time available to rebuild the team.
The architect of the new Milan will not be Paratici, though. The negotiation has become tangled around the issue of the suspension: the deadline set for July 20 and the limited operability until that date was an impossible knot to untie.
The alternative profiles
So, at the beginning of April, the casting restarts with interviews with other aspiring candidates. The main names are Igli Tare, Tony D’Amico, Giovanni Sartori and Giovanni Manna. Three out of four are still under contract, which could delay the timing.
This is not a small detail, because the new SD will inevitably suggest the name of the coach, and it will be the coach with his footballing ideas who will influence the choices when it comes to the summer transfer window and players to buy or sell.
Tare was the head of the sporting side at Lazio for 15 years, working alongside president Claudio Lotito until the summer of 2023. He has good skills in identifying and developing young talents, and that is one of the reasons why he had already been contacted.
D’Amico is the sporting director of Atalanta, after having gained experience at Verona. Could he arrive at Milan as a pair with Gian Piero Gasperini? At present, it is nothing more than one of the many hypotheses.
Sartori is the architect of Chievo, then Atalanta and now the man who took Bologna to the Champions League. These are all teams that have largely gone beyond expectations, thanks to the intuition and choices of the market man. He and Vincenzo Italiano as a pair for Milan are another idea.
Manna is the youngest, born in 1988. He became sporting director of Napoli after being in the Juventus youth sector, first in charge of the Primavera and then Juve Next Gen. Could the same argument made for the other candidates apply, that he may arrive arm in arm with Antonio Conte?
Other names and interviews
It is difficult to predict that Milan, in search of a new Italian identity, will rebuild with a foreign director. However, Furlani will also meet some to get an even broader idea of the possible solutions. Markus Krosche of Eintracht Frankfurt to Thiago Scuro at Monaco are potential names.
The new sporting director will obviously have a leading role. The CEO Furlani will choose who he wants to have at his side, and he will be the one to pass the pen for the signature on the contracts.
The teamwork requires that the chosen candidate has the favour of the owner Gerry Cardinale (and Paratici had it), as well as Zlatan Ibrahimovic and also Geoffrey Moncada, current technical director.
After the match against Fiorentina, in a season without great ambitions, the challenge for the future will start again immediately, Milan must renew itself quickly to return to compete at the top. At this stage of the season in 2025-26, the Rossoneri must have more to fight for.
Sartori is the best sportive director in Italy and one of the best in the whole world
My wish – Sartori/Italiano
Reality – Tare/Allegri
Tare and Allergi are both available on free, so that’s that.
Sartori is a good shout.
I still think Italiano isn;t ready for a bog club yet. I feel like a lot of his success is on the back of what Motta had achieved there.
Tari/Allegri isn’t a terrible option. Would have liked Conte.
I just wish they would identify the first choices and go for it. For example, Sartori under contract? Pay him out of it, and so on.
Italiano did well in Fiorentina prior to Bologna. In fact it could also be said Palladino is reapinh what Italiano sow.
Bologna also sold some players namely Zirkzee who was pivotal to Motta. So he’s doing quite well with the team he inherited.
I like the football he plays, fast and compact. Doesn’t really fear to play against anyone. To me he seems like a guy who knows what he wants and knows how to adjust a play and a system to his players. Unlike what we had with Fonzy and have with Sergio, forcing a system not suitable for crop of players at disposal.
I’d also like to see a coach and SD duo that will complement each other.
This really shows the level of incompetence at Milan. They knew Paratici had legal issues but still insisted on wasting time pursuing him only to abandon his appointment due to his pending legal issues?
What a bunch of bozos at Milan. How did these people get their jobs. Smh
Sartori did great job if they can bring that guy then we are safe
We need a SD and a DM. Anyone else find this funny?