Questions have continuously been asked about Zlatan Ibrahimovic, his role, and his importance to AC Milan. However, on the eve of the Rossoneri’s clash against Liverpool, he perhaps offered the most important sign of his role.
Since his return, the questions about Zlatan have come in bucketloads. No one was quite sure about what his role would entail when he arrived, and even now, there are still some questions about the specifics of his role.
He played a large part in the mercato, and in some instances, it seemed like he was the decision maker and not Cardinale. This is, of course, understandable in some capacities because of his experience in football. However, it is a large risk to have that level of control, if things do not work out.
Nevertheless, his biggest role may not be as an advisor, or at least in the way that it was once described.
Yesterday, Ibrahimovic was present at Milanello, and Gianluca Di Marzio took the opportunity to speak about his impact at the club on Sky Sports – his words have been relayed by Radio Rossonera.
“Ibrahimovic is the image of this finish, his absence after the transfer market made a lot of noise, an absence of 17 days if I’m not mistaken. Even if he doesn’t have a specific role in Milan, he’s a property consultant.
“Surely in difficult times his presence is invoked by everyone and seeing him in Milanello is important. Fonseca and all the players went to greet him and shake his hand: his charisma and leadership make the difference on the eve of such an important match.”
Di Marzio is, therefore, suggesting that the biggest part of his role is not the mercato or management tasks, but rather a presence and reminder of the expectations that playing for Milan brings. An advisor for players when needed, and before the Liverpool clash, they need it.
After he bring a ST and fixes our midfield, by explaining to Gerry and his delusional ways, spending max 20M on each player, is not a strategy… then I will fix my recent opinion about the judas
It’s clearly a PR move, like any influencer promoting some brand toward its fanbase. He had no say for the coach. Zirkee said two days ago that he wants to be the new Zlatan, how could the management fail to capitalise on that… Zlatan is obviously a yes man, he won’t give interviews saying that there is a need to invest. His absence during the recent crisis, at the beginning of the season and before an international break, is head scratching at best. He’s our own Ronald McDonald.
“His absence during the recent crisis”
He was supposed to know in forehand that Theo & Leao would get childish and act like little kids and Milan would lose to Parma? OK. Yeah. Totally Zlatan the babysitter’s fault. He shouldn’t have left those kids… Ehm, adults unsupervised for that long.
And also, he wasn’t on a vacation based on Milanreports:
“Meanwhile, it should be noted that RedBird’s senior advisor, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, will not be present for the home match against Venezia. The former Milan striker, now an executive, will return for the debut match in the new Champions League: on Tuesday evening, at 21:00, Milan will face Arne Slot’s Liverpool. But why will Ibrahimovic be absent? According to La Gazzetta dello Sport, the Rossoneri executive is attending a two-week professional course and will return tomorrow.”
So… In fact he was working. Like all the players were supposed to too against Parma & Lazio. But sure, let’s blame Zlatan for the 1 point gathered from those two matches. 🙂
Zlatan is to be blamed for talking as usual and then very under-performing… him admitting to being the Cerberus to Gerry’s wallet is just sad…
we only have 20 players, 5 players need to be either let go right now or given time max until summer. your midfield is in shambles, in the possession system that the management and the coach wanted to implement, not having proper midfield will always end up catastrophic.
You can say what you want, Zlatan is still a mascot and nothing more. Throw him to the fans and media like a bone to the dogs. Classic PR diversion. Meanwhile the management can work in peace and in “no panic” to fructify those nice ROI.
For your comment about the market, everything has been said already. There is no example of a team winning trophies in recent memory with a bunch of cheap players, unless we’re still speaking about that Moneyball movie that is the management’s Bible.
yup… Zirkzee, Ricci and Kayode instead of missing out on Bennacer sub all together, going for Emerson and blaming the coach for the pick and the whole Zirzkee drama, would have made us a complete team… although, happy with Morata, Tammy also seems to fit in nicely (but no buy-option)
imo, we have 20 (ignoring Tammy) players that should be kept the rest 5 either need to go now or given time max until next summer… RLC and Calabria (I don’t think we can get rid of Emerson that easily and they don’t want to extend Calabria deal) being in the latter category, while Florenzi, Jovic are just taking salary for doing absolutely nothing (Origi, Ballo updated versions)
just by getting rid of Florenzi, Jovic, Origi and Ballo, we would be getting upto 15M break on salaries… 15M, that’s literally the combined salary Theo and Maignan should be getting!
and Bennacer who either keeps ignoring the doctors, because who goes to play on artificial hard surface when you just came back from 1 year of injury+rehab or is just physically done with European football!
very sloppy team building!
Zirkzee, Ricci and Kayode would have cost 110M and we still wouldn’t have had a striker or CB. Zirkzee has 1 goal in 4 matches, same as 13M Morata (who isn’t fully fit) and on loan Tammy.
And that’s 110M before Fofana too.
110M? why are Kayode and Ricci 70M? Kayode is sub for Fiorentina and with the amount of players they bought 20-25M would be enough…. Emerson was 15M and more or less waste of money
ST cost that much, no one can change that… neither me, you or Gerry’s delusions!
Ricci price skyrocketed after good performances for Italy and Torino, that’s why you go for them until media starts spamming their names and another delusional director like Cairo justifies the insane 35M price… but I remember Loca and Ricci being bashed for being average on this forum…
and whatever it is you can go with Juve model and pay in installments or loan deals… the fact is we are missing 2 players in midfield, Tammy is stop gap, and RB is a disaster
J.David has 1 year left on his contract, there is Konate from Salzburg, Retegui (4 goals) went for 20M…
@King22. Your assumptions are as good as mine. Zirkzee was 50m as a fact, Ricci is listed at 30M, and Kayode is a big talent at 20 yeara old, is under contract until 2028 has already been linked with the PL and Fiorentina aren’t stupid, so that’s another 30M. Even if it’s “just” 20M, it’s still 100M. Transfermarkt has him at 25m, and that’s just book value, not what we’d have to offer to actually get them to accept. So maybe even 40M.
“just by getting rid of Florenzi, Jovic, Origi and Ballo, we would be getting upto 15M break on salaries… 15M, that’s literally the combined salary Theo and Maignan should be getting!”
I have to disagree on this.
If we god rid of Origi and/or Touré without selling/loaning them, we will have to pay the full amount of their contract, so we will not get a “break” on salaries, on the contraire
I never said termination…
@King22:
Understandable, my apologies.
But Origi and Touré themselves just have made it impossible to get rid of them, you can’t force someone out.
We’ll have to accept that they’ll collect paycheck until their contract is over.
We got two good, new strikers and Fofana is a big step forward in midfield… What did you expect? Haaland? Mbappe?
Tammy on loan isn’t us getting a forward… we needed Bennacer cover, which ended up RLC, but we didn’t get anyone.
Reijnders as CAM doesn’t have a natural substitute, Liberalli isn’t being used for some reason when it could be a quick fix and worthwhile test. cause if he’s too raw Lewis Ferguson would be ideal.
Also, Bennacer should be punished for not taking his rehab seriously and wasting our and his 1.5 seasons already! going to play on artificial hard surface when you just came back is just unprofessional
“Tammy on loan isn’t us getting a forward…”
We already had Jovic who we couldn’t get rid of and Camarda waiting for his chance. Tammy was great business on the last days of mercato. Both financially and squad-wise. Low-risk acquisition for 1 season and get back to the table in spring. Well done. Now they’d need to find a new home for Jovic in January…
*get back to the negotiation table in spring.
Another Fifa/FM comment. Ferguson has numbers suggesting Koopmeiners. Koopmeiners cost 64M. Ferguson would be at least 40M. Oh, and he’s coming off an ACL tear. So, big risk. Don’t get me wrong, I like all the players you’ve mentioned, but it’s not just like “just buy this and buy that”.
Also, Tammy on loan is literally getting us a striker. He’s literally on our squad. Plus he is an alternate to Morata, who is the striker we got. Then people are always forgetting we supposedly have some prodigy in Camarda, who would be blocked if we spent big money on some 23 year old. Then he’d be sold and then you would complain about how we sell are talented academy Italians. Damned if you do, damned if you don’t.
Tammy is, us needing to find yet another striker… consistency also matters, we can’t have 2 strikers coming in and out every season… Now that I checked, Tammy contract is until 2026, so if he plays well he will force his stay being RLC and Tomori bff… hope he succeeds but idk, he doesn’t bring confidence
Even if Ferguson would be 30M + 10-15% re-sale it’s still worth… we need to spend 30M on 3-4 players, also since Pobega is already in the main squad of Bologna and Adli, I think will also succeed at Fiorentina, we will be getting potentially 40M (Kalulu+Bresicanini re-sale clause). Bennacer hopeful 30-35M will also finance other deals like Ricci for instance. so we do have money…
Also, our books are clean use loan+obligation and deferrals to spread some costs and pay 20M now and 10M in additional 2 years
Tammy is us waiting for Camarda gain a season or two of experience and join the first team. If Camarda turns out to be what he’s been fantasized to be, he will be our starting no. 9 for season 2026-27. So off Tammy will go, in Camarda will come, and Morata will transition to his backup as his contract/career winds down.
As to Adli and Pobega, that money will come in 2025, if it comes. So it wouldn’t have helped us this summer.
What I think should have been done differently (my opinion of course)
– We shouldn’t have renewed to Jovic only to exclude him from UEFA list, he is now a burden.
– We should have gone for either Hojbjerg/Cardozo/Danilo/Ricci instead of Fofana. Hojbjerg especially was loaned with option to buy for 14M€. Zubimendi would have been huge but out of our reach
Should have gone for Prati as a deputy DM.
– Should have tried to offload Bennacer even on loan (although we know we have some benefit of hindsight).
– Should have kept Kalulu and tried to sell Thiaw instead of the opposite.
– Don’t buy Jimenez, but get a deputy for Theo.
What should perhaps/maybe have been considered:
– Keeping Adli.
– Securing a renewal for Simic and promising him more time with the first team.
– Go for Kayode or even Cancelo (although the later might be too expensive and has a big salary).
– If all the above has been done, sell Musah and perhaps get Koné instead.
and of course I forgot most importantly:
– Don’t buy Emerson Royal
– Get Conceiçao as a coach instead of Fonseca.
Excuse me, in which club are you the sports director?
I dunno but he sure looks more competent than the one(s) in Milan.
I think Hojberg AND Fofana would have been both possible, since like you said, Hojberg is initially a loan, so his eventual purchase price would not have counted against this season’s budget. So Hojberg and Fofana, no Kone. Kayode is out of reach in all scenarios, unless another sale happens, but at that point you’re beginning to touch players we want to keep.
If you want Fofana+Hojbjerg you’ll have to sell someone from the midfield otherwise we will have too many players even with Bennacer’s injury.
If we managed to sell Thiaw+Musah+Bennacer (even on loan for the latet) and didn’t buy for Jimenez for 5M€, I think we could have gotten Prati as a deputy DM + Kayode (I don’t think we maxed out our summer budget).
Legend ❤🖤
He’s our own Ronald McDonald
So funny cause it is true. A mascot and distraction for fans and media, nothing more, nothing less.
This ownership and management is a joke.