Di Marzio: ‘Offered his willingness’ – Tuchel on Milan’s post-Fonseca shortlist

Photo by Susan Vera - Pool/Getty Images

With Paulo Fonseca’s future in extreme doubt, AC Milan are building a shortlist of replacements to evaluate, and a name of extreme interest has offered his willingness for the job. 

The summer was a difficult period for Milan. After sacking Stefano Pioli, it seemed Julien Lopetegui was next in line to lead the Rossoneri, but due to fan backlash, the move did not get the final approval.

Following Lopetegui, Fonseca was the next to be chosen, and whilst there was backlash once again, the Diavolo hired the Portuguese coach. Fast forward to now, and it seems that decision could have again been the wrong one.

Milan have started the season woefully, winning only one of their five games and conceding nine goals in the process. It is fair to say, they look completely lost, and there is little to no hope that Fonseca can drag the squad out of this situation.

Going into the Derby della Madonnina, hopes could not be lower. There is already a write-off feeling, and should a defeat happen, it seems that goodbye would be the only option for Fonseca.

Four candidates currently are being evaluated for if this were to happen, as Gianluca Di Marzio reports. Maurizio Sarri and Massimiliano Allegri are the favoured domestic options, and a report has suggested that the former-Lazio coach is the favoured choice.

Away from Italy, Edin Terzic is an option, as is Thomas Tuchel – a name that fans were dreaming of during the summer. Interestingly, Di Marzio suggests that the former Bayern coach has ‘offered his willingness to negotiate’.

With Stefano Pioli no longer on Milan’s books, perhaps their budget may be higher than it was in the summer, and this could open a door for a higher-value coach like Tuchel. However, it remains to be seen what the Rossoneri will do.

Tags AC Milan Edin Terzic Massimiliano Allegri Maurizio Sarri Thomas Tuchel

27 Comments

  1. With the management ego … No way they’d go for a strong character coach , just looking for a new puppet to jump on demand so that Ibra can still say he’s the boss , the king and the god… What have become of our club, seriously depressing stuff . Even a blind person can see we play like sh*t

  2. Tuchel is a junkyard bulldog. He will punish Leao and Theo with screaming and negativity—which could be what they need to finally fire on all cylinders. So that could be a plus. In the negative side, he is likely to deflate Pulisic and cause him to regress, play within himself instead of expansively, and use him out of position in a way that leads to him getting injured repeatedly. Given that Pulisic has been the one truly bright spot in the past two Mercatos, on balance I do not think Tuchel is a wise gamble for this club to take.

      1. Put a professional chef on my kitchen, he would still be able to produce a quality dish. Put me in their kitchen, and best I could do is probably ham and cheese sandwich. Hopefully, lesson learned. Hard.

    1. Milan is awesome lately, milan make great news and drama. This will make milan famous although trophyless.

      Fan will sad and depress, but milan management don’t care about trophy, they care about profit.

  3. yes, get Tuchel and at the same time get rid of Ibra and his sons. the current situation is also not good for the academy, no matter if Max scores or not.

    1. No!
      Get rid of Ibra and keep his sons as long as they are good enough to score goals and perform well.

      If Max is doing well, we keep him.

  4. Yes to Tuchel!
    The thing is he will need time. This season will be a learning curve for the players to learn how to play football and also what is really required to become the best! (Leao)

  5. Tuchel is a phenomenal opportunity. Zidane emails my first choice hit that won’t happen for a number of reasons I don’t think.

    However I don’t think Tuchel will be a fit for Redbird who don’t want a coach with ideas on players and real football

  6. Terzic or Tuchel would be great, but, I still think that Fonseca needs time to work on this team, as would any replacement. He wasn’t the fans’ choice, but, since the management picked him, regardless of what the fans felt about him, they should allow him to see out his contract. He may still come good.

  7. Tuchel has some serious strengths, namely getting his teams to play with intensity, tactical flexibility, excellent in-game adjustments. If I had to win one match, Tuchel is high on my list to win one match. He’s beaten Pep Guardiola multiple times and played him tough in others. He’s beaten Ancellotti and Real Madrid multiple times and played him tough in others. He’s beaten Klopp and Liverpool multiple times and played him tough in others. But he’s never managed to create the long-lasting successful juggernaut that Guardiola and Ancellotti and Klopp have, arguably the three most successful clubs in the world during the last decade, because….

    He sucks at man-management and building a team. Look how long he has lasted at different top clubs, even where he’s been successful. He wears players out with his intensity and he’s not great at making players feel wanted, needed, confident, and strong. I thought Bayern would finally be the spot for him. And then he ran out of road there just like anywhere else.

    Also, clubs have frequently been a shambles after he gets the boot (which points to problems in building teams). I guess that’s not surprising, as most big clubs give managers the boot when they are struggling, only to find that the manager was not the only issue. His most successful season ever was the half season after Lampard was fired at Chelsea and he took over and led them to a UCL title.

    So hire Tuchel at your own risk.

    I questioned the Fonseca hire, because his counterpressing style would be hard to impose on a team with some star players that have never been that disciplined (Leao #1, Theo a distant #2). I figured there was some chance he’d finally get Leao to buy in defensively, but more likely one or the other would be gone by the end of January. Right now, that looks like Fonseca.

    I actually think Milan should’ve stuck with Pioli. The team was very successful under Pioli — his only major issue was that Inter was consistently better. We forget that it’s very hard to fight for titles every year – there’s serious luck involved. Last year’s team could’ve made a stronger run at it, if not for the injury disasters in defense. If you’re finishing top 4 in the league every year, making Champion’s League knockouts every year, then you’ll wind up winning titles and getting to Champion’s League finals, by getting a little luck at some point. Yes, Milan had a little luck to win the last Scudetto, but that’s OK. You keep showing up and being one of the best teams, you will win one. And you deserve it when you do.

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