Another source has confirmed that Gerry Cardinale has decided against the appointment of external candidates to fill AC Milan’s management.
La Gazzetta dello Sport reports that the ‘new Milan is taking shape’ and that it will involved ‘a castle of names, roles, and skills’. At the top, of course, is the owner Gerry Cardinale: as he has repeatedly explained, he will be directly involved and operational.
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A first change in strategy: he will no longer delegate to trusted men, but will intervene personally. Even though Cardinale has the final say, there will still be a team behind him that will work as a team to support the team and the coach.
Building a competitive Milan is the primary objective, with the club having chosen Amorim as its new architect: a modern coach with a positive style of play. A man who won in Portugal and disappointed in the Premier League: a learning experience nonetheless.
Cardinale understands the new coach’s needs and requirements, and to meet them, he has chosen to implement a streamlined organisational chart, with clearly defined and interconnected areas of action.
A combination of operations, analysis, and financial feasibility. Not one man in command, but a working group. With a clear role model: Liverpool, of which Cardinale was for years the second-largest shareholder. An ambitious model but one that Gerry can boast of having known very closely.
The new structure
At the helm of Milan’s negotiations will be Hendrik Almstadt, director of player trading. He will support him in identifying suitable players who meet the demands of manager Bobby Gardiner, who has been promoted to director of Football Intelligence.
He will explore young players and other talents across all European leagues: the new Milan will need reinforcements in every department. He will also be the sporting director closest to Amorim, with whom he will be able to discuss specific needs and technical matters.
He will also oversee data analysis and scouting, an area overseen by Donato Lomonte, the longest-serving Milan director. He will also be able to draw on input from eight scouts with global coverage, but with a specific geographic focus: England, France, Argentina, the Netherlands, Belgium and Italy.
It doesn’t end there: a TBD figure will be appointed to provide video analysis and sporting support, technically a Head of Recruitment Analysis. Once the structure has been defined, the market, both incoming and outgoing, can finally come to life.
A squad to strengthen
In Cardinale’s view – as well as Amorim’s – the team already has a solid and well-equipped starting position to aim for the Champions League, even more so if strengthened with further additions.
If it were up to the club’s owner, all the big names would remain: Mike Maignan, Adrien Rabiot, and obviously Luka Modric. Rafael Leao has opted out on his own; as for the others, but the club is ready to resist the temptations of potential suitors (certainly Allegri’s Napoli for Rabiot).
Milan are self-sustaining even if deprived of the rich revenue from Champions League qualification, would like all its key players to remain. Then there’s the willingness of the other side, which could play a role.
If there are transfer requests, suitable offers will also have to be evaluated. Modric’s situation is different, as he has a one-year renewal option. Cardinale has specifically asked him to stay with the Rossoneri and he’ll decide after the World Cup.
RedBird’s structure, which focuses on the club’s day-to-day operations, is parallel yet complementary. Massimo Calvelli will replace Furlani as CEO. Other fund managers will support Milan: the team files will also be sent to David Castelblanco, Gerry’s right-hand man at RedBird on the investment front.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic is the owners’ consultant and will remain so. Paolo Scaroni will still be the president, Jovan Kirovski will continue to manage the development of young players as head of Milan Futuro, while Vincenzo Vergine will remain in charge of the youth team.
There is no structure to speak of.
Just more of the same inadequacy plaguing Milan. People who are left are “promoted” to positions they haven’t been in before or necessarily understand for that matter because no one competent wants to come anywhere near this club …
Translation……none of the actual professional football executives with successful track records would come anywhere near this crap show to be subjected to Gerry’s utter incompetence and Zlatan’s megalomania.
Another re-structure? this is becoming an annual thing. Come on Milan get your act together. Real, Barca, City, Utd, Arsenal, Liverpool, Bayern, etc are soon going to be uncatchable, if not already.