Giorgio Furlani’s green light has been a key part of AC Milan’s accelerated pursuit of Jean-Philippe Mateta, who appears to be just one step away from leaving Crystal Palace.
Milan have been evaluating solutions for the No.9 role for quite some time now, above all as Santiago Gimenez and Christopher Nkunku have failed to impress. In addition to Niclas Füllkrug, it seems they could also bring in Mateta this month.
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The pursuit of the Frenchman was originally scheduled for the summer, but Milan decided to make concrete moves in the last few days instead. It seems that the CEO, Giorgio Furlani, was the man behind that decision.
Green light arrives from Furlani
According to Gianluca Di Marzio, speaking live on Sky Italia (via MilanNews), the CEO gave the green light for the operation in order to beat the competition. In fact, he’s also part of the negotiations with Crystal Palace, believing that this is a good opportunity.
“Mateta is a surprise signing due to the timing, a deal personally spearheaded by Giorgio Furlani, who evidently understood the opportunity and necessity to move the deal forward. The feeling is that the Frenchman will be Milan’s tomorrow [today, editor’s note],” he stated.
It’s worth noting that while Furlani was crucial for accelerating the talks, that’s simply because he’s in charge of the economic side of things. In other words, without his go-ahead for such a hefty signing, it wouldn’t be possible for Milan to negotiate.
Subsequently, just because he has ‘spearheaded’ the operation, it doesn’t necessarily mean that Furlani has identified Mateta himself as the perfect striker. It just means that, after sharing the management’s verdict on the player’s quality, he has authorised the expenditure.
so no CB… I guess Gila is the target
amazing work on Mateta though
You mean pen pusher Furlani was doing his job – as a CEO he deals with contracts, not (nor despite what people claim, has ever identified targets).
As no one has clocked on as to why this is suddenly happening, yesterday Elliot left the club, after 8 years. A day later, RedBird are flexing their muscles by going after Mateta. This is a statement of intent by RedBird. Before the refinancing, the idea seemed to be Vlahovic in the summer on a free transfer, now they’re trying to bring in Mateta immediately and trying to push Nkunku out of the door.
You’re right mate. A lot of people in here don’t understand the roles in management. They don’t know that Furlani is just the financial guy who, after the director or else in charge of identifying players, gives the ok to release the funds. They’re blindfolded by their hate towards anybody now in charge becauseof Maldini, they don’t use their common sense to understand how a club is run. Who is responsible for what.
Just let it go and support Milan if you are a true fan
why i have to support Milan & can’t support Maldini in same time?
it’s not del Piero nor Totti, it’s Maldini loyalist & most trophy in Milan history. got sack by nobody cuz of jealousy..
i support Milan & alwasy be.. but this mngmnt won nothing, financial profit oriented, no trophy ambition, bought chelsea’s garbage & random w/ ludicrous price.. it’s suck,
i love Milan but mngnt’s suck when it’s suck, i’m no blind fan..
Bensonmilan 💯 you are correct
The irony is Vlahovic is better than Mateta, and just turned 26, and has a track record in Serie A, and has played for Allegri. The real flex would have been completing his signing as a free agent. As it is, we’re not spending 35M on Mateta, after having spent 35M on Gimenez and then also signing Vlahovic…unless we do and then it’s the ultimate flex. But we’ll see about that.
I don’t know how mateta looks on the ball because I haven’t seen him play much but i have seen vlahovic play and he’s just as bad with his back to goal as Santi or Nkunku. At this rate I’d keep Fulkrug and the wingers…
100%. We’re not talking about Shevchenko in either case, but I’m looking at more basic things, like simple goalscoring record and intangibles like Serie A experience, Allegri experience and age (usefulness over time vs. price). I’d love to find a “new Shevchenko” but in today’s football we’d either have to luck out on developing one from a talented youngster, or fork out north of 80M to acquire one who is proven. I really hope Mateta works out, but I have PTSD from over a decade of not having a truly reliable no. 9 who is with us for the long haul.
Flex muscles? They “flexed” with Nkunku and Santi and look how that “statement of intent” turned out…