Igli Tare has had an incredibly busy first few weeks as AC Milan’s new sporting director, but he stopped to shed some light on the planning for the future.
Tare probably knew he would have a lot on his plate instantly after accepting the job at Milan, given the fact that the team finished eighth in the league last season, amid fan protests and major scepticism regarding the vision moving forward.
In fact, even the Albanian’s first day consisted of several meetings rather than casual coffees and greetings, not that he had much of a choice. There are many areas of the team that need work, and that comes after some major sales like those of Tijjani Reijnders and (soon) Theo Hernandez.
The first thing that Tare did was secure the return of Massimiliano Allegri as the head coach, allowing Milan to get off the coaching carousel early. However, worries are growing as the Rossoneri are yet to wrap up any incomings other than Luka Modric on a free transfer, and even that isn’t official.
Both Tare and the CEO Giorgio Furlani spoke in front of journalists who were invited to a behind-closed-doors press conference at Casa Milan. The pair wanted to answer questions regarding the summer strategy, and we have picked out some of the key passages to analyse.
Pre-identifying problems
One of the early points that Tare touched on in his comments was the fact that he had worked ahead of time to identify the issues in the current squad. This is perhaps not surprising, given he had been spoken to months in advance about the role, but still reassuring nonetheless.
“I have had the opportunity to get to know all the problems of the past year first hand but I don’t like to go back: I would just like to take inspiration from the mistakes of the past year to try to transform it into a situation that will never happen again,” he said.
“We analysed this thing here and one of the shortcomings of last year was a clear leadership in the team. Maybe I don’t know the dynamics closely but I think that the purchase of Modric serves precisely this purpose: he is a player who is an important figure in world football.
“There will not only be him but also one or two purchases that will be part of these experienced players but will be a driving force for young players with great prospects.”
It is clear that the former Lazio director believes that there is a clear lack of leadership and experience in the team. The signing of Luka Modric is no secret by now, but it feels like Tare was hinting that he alone will not be enough, despite his endless list of honours.
Granit Xhaka is another name that has been linked too, though the comments from the new director are so unequivocal that it leads us to believe he may look to add ‘veterans’ in other areas. The defence is quite young by average age, and we know movements in attack are expected.
Still, he has hit the nail on the head: too many times last season, in the decisive moments when the chips were down, the team were vacated by their presumed leaders. Theo Hernandez, Mike Maignan, Rafael Leao, Alvaro Morata and others all let the side down at various points.
There are two types of leadership, of course. There are the vocal leaders who are captain material because of the respect they command in the dressing room, and there are those that lead by example by setting standards. Modric feels like the latter, so will more of the former arrive?
Transparency regarding exits
One of the most surprising takeaways from Tare’s comments was the transparency with which he spoke about the players who are reported to be leaving the club, and it started with Theo Hernandez. The Frenchman is heading to Al-Hilal for around €30m, bringing an end to six years at the club.
“Theo’s qualities are well known, a player who has given so much to this club. All these evaluations also start from a desire, on his part, to seek a new experience,” he said.
“We welcomed it as a normal thing, because – with my arrival and that of a new coach – we will try to build a team different from the past years. His transfer is not yet defined, we are working.”
In other words, the defender expressed a desire to try something new and the club listened to his wishes. It makes sense too, rather than keeping an unhappy player and potentially having to shut him up in the season before the World Cup.
His contract situation (deal expiring in 12 months) is the biggest factor in all of this, though the sporting director was very clear that the planning for the post-Theo era is not something they are worried about.
Moving onto Mike Maignan, Tare said: “Maignan is not leaving, he will be at Milan next season too. There was interest from a Premier League club but in the end an agreement was not reached, knowing that Maignan is a point of reference not only on the pitch but also off it. We decided to focus on him and look forward together.”
Here, we can bring in the first words from Furlani too: “There was interest from an English club, it was not considered interesting. Mike is an important player for Milan and he was very correct, as was his agent: there was openness to this interest but at the same time there was no forcing on their part. The results will judge the medium and long-term future.”
The media reports were correct, then. Chelsea did come in for Maignan, the goalkeeper did show an interest in joining them, but ultimately they never offered what was deemed to be an acceptable amount for a top player in his position.
Here, a contrasting stance emerges: Milan were very eager to keep hold of Maignan given his importance from a leadership perspective (which ties into the section above), but with Theo they seemed very willing to facilitate his exit.
Will the Rossoneri be able to tie Maignan down to a long-term deal, given that Massimiliano Allegri has apparently also had a private chat with him? Time will tell. Given the lack of contractual leverage, though, this is the first bold move.
If the situations of the two Frenchman had perhaps been made clear by reliable sources, there is a bit more mystery about Yunus Musah. He seemed to be close to joining Napoli, then everything went quiet. Well, allow Igli Tare to clear up any confusion.
“I think Musah is an excellent player, but we are looking for profiles with characteristics that are useful for the project we have together with mister Allegri. We are looking for deeper midfielders in a three-man midfield.
“Musah does not have these characteristics, he can play in a two or three [man mifield] but with other characteristics. This is the real reason why we want to do something different.”
So, the American better not unpack his bags. The midfield rebuild will be without doubt the most fascinating aspect of Milan’s summer window and countless names have already been linked, from Xhaka and Modric to Ardon Jashari and Samuele Ricci.
From his words, we can infer that Tare is looking to give Allegri some deeper midfield solutions. The desire is to sign a regista or two (deep-lying playmaker) and enable the possibility to play with a three – thus using them as a natural No.6 – or in a double pivot alongside someone else.
The Albanian was also quizzed on Rafael Leao. In truth, it has never felt like the Portuguese has been close to departing, but those rumours about Bayern Munich making an attempt have not gone away.
“I had the opportunity, and so did the coach, to speak seriously with him and I had a nice surprise: from the outside you may have a different opinion but when you get to know him you find a very competitive guy, his questions were about how the team will be strengthened.
“I consider him an important pawn in our project: he has everything to become a true champion. He has always shown it but I think he hasn’t shown what he really can yet. Offers? We haven’t received anything yet: the interests are all market rumours.”
The statements above may be the most encouraging from the entire interview. Leao, who has been at Milan for six years like Theo, not only has no intentions of leaving the club but is actively interested in learning how the directors plan to take things forward.
It also lifted the lid a bit as to what the true character of Leao is. As Tare rightly says, from the outside looking in you would be forgiven that he is somewhat of a detached figure, yet this bit of insight reveals a driven professional that clearly cares about the ambitions of the club he plays for.
Of course, the elephant in the room remains the fact that Leao’s development has rather stagnated. Not in a totally negative way – he has retained decent levels of attacking output – but the mission has always been there to make him a 20-goal man. Can the new regime succeed?
Clear plan for the attack
Another aspect of Milan’s recruitment that the papers have shouted about is the desire to sign another striker. Tare’s response to this issue was intriguing, as he did not play anything down and rather confirmed the intention to help Santiago Gimenez out a bit.
“We plan to intervene on the wingers in the event of any exits. As for the centre-forward, we are looking for another player to compete with Gimenez, who I consider an excellent player but who has had a normal Italian impact, of settling in, from a very different football like Dutch football.
“For the role of the striker, also speaking with Zlatan, this team lacks a characteristic: having Gimenez who likes to drift to the wing and then cut inside, the team lacks a centre-forward who stays in the area and who is very good at holding the ball up, who makes the team push up, especially if he stays inside the area.”
The new head of recruitment has made it very clear what Milan want: a penalty area poacher. Last summer, the decision was made to go for a completely different profile in Alvaro Morata, who has been labelled as a ‘9.5’ because of his propensity to drop deep and participate in the build-up.
That experiment under Paulo Fonseca was deemed to have failed, so off he went to Galatasaray. Santiago Gimenez arrived for €32m plus €3m in bonuses, and everyone presumed that the Rossoneri had finally invested in the striker of the future.
What is interesting about Tare’s words on the Mexican is that it feels like a misprofiling. At the time, it was assumed Gimenez would be the penalty area striker, because his strengths are movement, positioning and finishing. He only drifted wide because he was often left isolated, especially against deep blocks.
All in all, Gimenez’s adaptation period of six months was far from a disaster. He racked up nine goal contributions (six of them goals) in a very difficult half-season, having joined a team in chaos and working under a new coach who was certainly more defensively-minded.
What Allegri thinks of him will be interesting to see, but we now know what kind of profile Milan want to compliment him. Dusan Vlahovic and Moise Kean do not tick the boxes described, so will it be more the Mateo Retegui/Aleksandr Mitrovic moulds that they go for?
Tare went on to confirm the strategy for Francesco Camarda too, who is heading for a loan spell at Lecce. The logic behind it seems relatively solid, because another year as the third choice will do no good at this stage in his development.
He said: “Just yesterday we had a long discussion about the future of our young players, including Camarda who will have an important role in the future of this club.
“We made the decision to loan him out and we closed an agreement with Lecce where he will go to play for a year on loan with the hope of returning to us as we all hope.”
Finally, there were some words on the future of Christian Pulisic, amid some rather worrying reports that he has put his renewal on hold amid doubts over the direction of the club.
“He will be a key player for next season: I will have the opportunity to discuss the renewal with Giorgio at the right time but right now we are only focused on the team,” Tare said.
“I think he was one of the most positive players last season and he is one of the pillars of the season to come: he has a central role in this group.”
Furlani followed this up: “Christian still has three years left on his contract with Milan: it’s not a super emergency. From the club and ownership point of view, he’s a very important player.”
There are no alarm bells ringing regarding the winger at present, therefore. While no European football is a bitter pill for a player of Pulisic’s level to swallow, the intention has to be to ensure that the Diavolo are back in the top club competition in 2026-27.
It is also apparent that the hierarchy view him as a potential leader within the squad. Whether that is by setting standards or vocally (as mentioned earlier) only they know, but again is seems more like the former.
Why (and how) Allegri
Moving on to the big first decision that Tare made: the hiring of Allegri as the new head coach. The director shed some light on what exactly gave him the impressions that this was the right decision.
“After my arrival there was this need to intervene immediately. From the first contact I had with Allegri I perceived that he cared a lot about this club: he had a very deep knowledge of the problems of this team,” he said.
“Thanks to a blitz by me and Giorgio [Furlani] in Lugano where we had a long meeting together with Max, we made sure that in 48 hours he made a quick decision and accepted this project of ours.
“I am in contact with him daily, even more than 4 or 5 times a day. He is aware of everything we do for the team. We only spoke about characteristics and opportunities that come up every day. His system is very clear: first there are certain roles and then the rest will be completed at the end of the mercato.”
Furlani added: “I was struck by his knowledge of Milan, his knowledge of the Italian league and the fact that he has objectively won the most in Serie A.
“He has enthusiasm, he has knowledge of Milan and the club, a great desire to do well this year. Before starting, Tare said that Allegri was the man to start again and to bring Milan back to where it should be.”
Once again, the emphasis here is on a pre-diagnosis of the problems. There were reports in the build-up to the announcement stating that Allegri had not missed a Milan game all season, almost as if he were sat over the phone hoping and waiting for the call.
While 2024-25 will rightly be viewed as a disaster in the eyes of the fans, it did at least lay a blueprint in terms of what not to do. The Rossoneri have gone for ‘safe pairs of hands’ with Tare, who has over 15 years of experience in the league, and he in turn went for a solid bet in Allegri.
What stands out from the quotes though, like with the Leao passage, is the talk of a man fired up to put things right. We have written at length before about how Allegri is putting more into this particular job than he has the first weeks of any other role he has had, and Tare’s comments suggest that is true.
The results, as always, will do the talking. Though, there are certainly things that can aid the new boss in his return: having a full and uninterrupted preseason, stars there for day one due to no major international tournament, no midweek European games to contend with, a prior knowledge of the club and of course a track record of winning in Italy.
To condense things a bit, this is far from the gamble taken one year ago with Paulo Fonseca. Allegri will be the most decorated coach in Serie A for the start of 2025-26, barring any big surprises, and will command respect in the changing room as a result.
Zlatan’s role remains a mystery
Finally, we end with Furlani’s response to a question on what exactly Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s role at Milan is, given that he does not appear on the organisational chart.
“Precisely, Zlatan has never technically been part of the club’s staff and there has been confusion about his role. He was and remains a very important person in the context of the Milan project,” he began.
“Zlatan’s role is at the ownership level: if you go to the RedBird website you can see it. His input is on the sporting, commercial, institutional and representative side. A person who made us win as a player, who brought us back to winning the Scudetto in 2022.
“But keep in mind that he is also someone who has played from Holland to Spain, England, PSG, in the United States… He has a wealth of skills and a very broad knowledge of the world of football.”
During last season there was talk of an internal power struggle at Milan, with Ibrahimovic and Furlani believed to have clashed over numerous things. When Zlatan began conducting the process of hiring a new director, the CEO apparently kiboshed it and reminded the owner of his signing-off powers.
Does any of what Furlani said above dispel the rumours that he wishes to remind everyone he is in control? If anything, it sounds more like a mission to distance the club from Ibrahimovic, and to make it clear he has very little influence.
Then, the contradiction comes about how his realm of ‘input’ covers four different areas, and that his experience as a player is being used. So which is it? Does Zlatan have sway on a day-to-day basis, or is he more of a PR/mentor figure who gets a call when needed? The answer, again, is as clear as mud.
Can someone please tell these guys that Rodrygo from Real Madrid is available????
Every time I watch Juventus play, I am reminded why Pioli had Kalulu 5th in his CB pecking order.
He is good at pressing the ball carrier, but he can’t read the play develop and gets caught ball watching. Thats exactly what happened on City’s first goal and then great finish by Kalulu in his own net for City’s 2nd goal. He has been City’s best player.
Meanwhile, it seems like Atletico Madrid is close to signing Atalanta’s LB Matteo Ruggeri for more money than what they were willing to pay for Theo Hernández.
I wish Oli had taken a more critical review of what was said rather than a summarization. Because I think none of the most important questions were asked nor answered…. There was a lot of Glossing over and I don’t know that many people are able to read between the lines here.
Furlani did a poor job answering to even scripted questions and wouldn’t really dwell on what the mistakes were or why no one was held accountable.
Tare too tried to shed some light and positivity onto a project that is still yet largely undefined. What I heard was, that they can’t avoid bringing in experienced players since there are no leaders in the team and that the rest of the players will be younger with a potential (which really means capital gains).
There is still no project. No clear definitions of what we’re trying to compete for outside of “trophies”. What does that mean? Trofeo Berlusconi? Coppa?
As to “No revolution needed”, they made contradictory statement because if you claim to have had a strong roster to begin with that many clubs want (BS) why do you need 7 more signings in every position?
I could go on and on, as I did yesterday, but I think the larger theme here is that even with Max and Tare here, the targets haven’t changed – Scudetto irrelevance, top4 and CL inclusion.
That’s it really…
Will not accept Ricci in and Camarda out – nonsense
We shouldn’t compete for trophies, we should rather compete for food.
You’re just too foolish to realise how foolish you are I guess.
You are incapable of critical thinking. Shove your head back into the sand where it belongs, and believe all the BS this club feeds you.
Someone like you who cannot manage a mere roadside stand is here online championing weak arguments against men that you cannot even match up to in real life.
Since you are capable of critical thinking, tell me any club in Italy or at least in Europe that has openly come public to win the league, not even Real Madrid, not even Liverpool, none.
Only Amorim made such naive comments and was heavily bashed for that, now they have realistically targeted 2028 season to win (at least publicly), that’s how it’s done, but between the players and the coach they will definitely push hard to win the league this season especially after a few good results the team can start believing.
But what do you know? Just how to nag and nag and eat like a fool.
Glutton.
Haha dude what are you babbling about, are you drunk?
Of course buddy, I am drunk on your stupidity.
Good take.
As a striker you should have kept Kalulu. Opened space for the first goal, scored the second one. A big night for him.
I always said one thing about Kalulu, a one (or is it half) season wonder. Never have a problem to see him leave. The only problem is that he left for Juve. Oh and the other problem is that Milan brought Emerson as the ‘replacement’.
Why has there been no mention of the Thiaw and Tomori transfers?! From the sounds of things, Tomori is looking to be Guehis replacement at Crystal Palace and Thiaw is heading to Como with Morata?! So Gabbia is just going to sit in a back 3 by himself then…
Tare already said about this. On CB department, one will only come if one leaves. So I think he already knew that there’s some movement on our CBs.
GIVE US BACK MORATA AND BENNACER TO PAIR WITH FOFANA AND MODRIC
STARTING FORMATION 3-4-2-1 (LOST FORMATION)
MORATA
BENNACER (LAM) OMEREGEBE
(get him back too!|)
|
v
SALAEMAKERS MODRIC FOFANA JIMENEZ-SANCHEZ
GABBIA TOMORI PAVLOVIC
MAIGNAN C
(hero defense; switch Tomori and Gabbia so Tomori starts playing a more traditional “sweeper” central defense in a 3 back formation joining the offense with “sweeping” runs to being on the end of crisp passes, one touches, dribbles himself to the goal, diving headers, etc etc etc)
BENCH
JOVIC, ABRAHAM (buy his loan), CAMARDA, CHUKWEZE, LOFTUS CHEEK, BARTESAGHI, SPORTIELLO
RESERVES
COLOMBO (back from Empoli), OKAFOR, TRAORE, ZEROLI, FLORENZI, ROYAL, TERRACIANO, THIAW, TORRIANI, NAVA
SELL: LEAO, PULISIC, MUSAH, THEO (sadly) REDBIRD CAPITAL PARTNER OWNERSHIP (ANY “NEW YORK” OR “USA” CONTINGENCIES INCLUDING THAT STUPID CLOTHING PARTNERSHIP JUST RID ALLOF THEM FROM THE TEAM ONCE AND FOR ALL THEIR “AURAS” ARE RUINING US SINGLEHANDEDLY, ETC ETC ETC
ITS TIME TO GET THIS BACK TO THE GLORY DAYS OF RED AND BLACK WORLD AND ITALIAN FOOTBALL DOMINANCE AGAIN NO MORE INSISTENCE ON “SWEEPING WEIRDO WINGER” AND “OVERLAPPING RUN DOWN THE FLANKS” PLAY THAT FIZZLES OUT AND NEVER ACTUALLY WORKS WITH OVER INFLATED EGOS AND TERRIBLY INSANELY HIGH CONTRACT PRICES AND RELEASE FEES (LEAO-175 MIL POUND RELEASE CLAUSE!? GIVE ME A BREAK THERE ARE COUNTRY TOP FLIGHT SQUADS THAT CAN BE BOUGHT FOR THAT AMOUNT ITSELF FOR GOD SAKES) INSTEAD CRISP AND CUTTHROAT ON EVERYTHING FINISHING, PASSING, RUNS, DRIBBLES, EXHIBITION OFFENSIVE PLAY FROM ATTACKING PARTS OF FORMATION ETC ETC ETC
FORZA MILAN
So a deep lying playmaker (DLP). There were news before that Allegri idea is Modric as DLP, maybe with Fofana and Ricci (now that his signing has been confirmed) as the other two midfielders to protect the DLP (kind of how Pirlo played with Gattuso and Ambrosini). But what would be the future? Modric won’t be more than 1-2 seasons, and there are rumours of Shaka (should be for 2-3 seasons), Jashari, (Rovella has been mentioned in a few news reports, but i think if they go for Jashari there’s no need for Rovella, and vice versa), Javi Guerra. But Shaka, Jashari and Rovella are all defensive midfielders, and don’t know if Javi Guerra would be an option as DLP, seems more of a CM to go next to a defensive midfielder in a double pivot.