Nine months of negotiations, a change that seemed obvious and that, surprisingly, did not materialise.
Ralf Rangnick will not be the manager of Milan, who renewed Stefano Pioli’s contract after the brilliant results achieved in the last month.
German newspaper Bild (via MilanNews) have retraced the the steps of a love story that blossomed in November and ended suddenly.
📅 The first contact between Milan and Rangnick was in early November, when the Rossoneri were fourteenth in the league and immersed in “mediocrity”. The German immediately said he was flattered by the interest, attracted by a historic club.
📅 Rangnick then begins to study Italian.
📅 In April, Leipzig starts looking for a successor.
📅 On May 7, Rangnick confirmed contacts with Milan for the first time, right at Bild: “I informed Red Bull, there were contacts with my agent”. The agreement seems already reached, only the budget, staff and role within the club are discussed.
📅 On May 11 the angry reaction of Paolo Maldini arrives, inviting Rangnick to “review the concept of respect”.
📅 A few days later the mood increases. Zlatan Ibrahimovic also shows his disappointment in an interview with Sportweek: “I don’t know Rangnick, but he certainly knows me”.
📅 Milan, meanwhile, goes up the table. Pioli’s team never loses, and doubt creeps into the property: wouldn’t it be better to continue like this?
📅 This brings us to the epilogue, staged on Monday and made official the next day. Pioli stays with Milan. What about Rangnick? He still has a contract as Head of sport and development of football until 2021 with Leipzig, which had given him the go ahead to deal with the Rossoneri.
At this point, the question is: how long, given the circumstances, will the Professor remain?
