Zlatan Ibrahimovic has found himself playing a central role in the daily running of AC Milan thanks to his new job with RedBird Capital Group.
As outlined by Calciomercato.com, Ibrahimovic is in many ways one of the figureheads of the club, despite having only ended his playing career at the end of last season.
In what has largely been viewed as a ‘special advisor’ role for RedBird, Ibrahimovic actually seems to be Gerry Cardinale’s man on the ground in Milan.
As Cardinale said himself at the Financial Times’ ‘Business of Football Summit’: “Zlatan allows me to be in the States and at the same time on the field in Milan. We hired him in RedBird specifically for everything he can do in football. But above all, he is my proxy.”
Cardinale also explained that he speaks to Ibrahimovic several times a day, meaning Cardinale is constantly being fed information about the goings on in Milan of his club, something that the American clearly thinks is extremely valuable.
“We speak several times a day and he has the authority to be my voice with the players, with the staff, with anyone at Milan. It is very important above all because he has a lot of credibility to do it. If I had taken a person from New York and put him in Milan he would have had much less credibility than Zlatan. The way in which Zlatan speaks to the players, acting as an intermediary for the ownership, is truly unique. I don’t want to go to the changing rooms to do it, I want Zlatan to do it,” Cardinale explained.
It seems plausible that Ibrahimovic is only going to get more and more power at Milan as the years go by, presuming the collaboration continues to go smoothly for all parties.
Fans assumed that he would stay at the club in some capacity after his playing career ended, but few could have predicted what a central role Ibrahimovic has.
So… Who is brave enough to say it…? Zlatan is the new Maldini here. 😀
Need to get the popcorn ready…
Maldini was born and raised as a Milanista. He spent half of his life wearing red and black. He came back to restore the glory of a fallen football giant. Then we can disagree if he succeeded or not, but he always had in mind the sake of the club.
Zlatan is a Redbird employee. He said he’s here to learn, he’s here to enter business and finance. Jerry likes big names (The Rock, Ben Affleck, Matt Damon, etc.), he can’t stop bragging about that and it’s obviously part of his PR policy for Redbird. Win-win for both of them but I’m not sure that Zlatan would raise his voice if needed. He’s wiser now, he’s smart and he knows when to stfu.
Anyway I guess we all hope that his mentality will help the club in the end, the same way it helped turning a young team into a scudetto contender a few years ago.
Heck yea😂😂😂😁…it’s the same role…almost. Worst kept secret ever. I think Ibra seemingly will be involved in Redbird’s other ventures, not just Milan. So I guess he has a bigger role. A Maldini + if you will 😅. Though I have no clue what the other stuff is about
Zlatan just needs to tell people off to their face which he has no problem doing. Play like sh*t? Face Zlatan. Coach with questionable decisions? Face Zlatan.
Maldini had the balls to do it, and after his departure there was a void. This is where Zlatan takes over because Pioli is too soft for it, too fatherly.
We just need accountability for bad decisions and performances, whether it’s on the players or Pioli. Hopefully Zlatan restores that.