Paulo Fonseca is set to become the new manager of AC Milan and in the talks with the management, he made his thoughts very clear on the current squad. As a report claims, he believes a striker is all it takes to compete with Inter next season.
Milan finished second in the 2023-24 season, 19 points behind their city rivals Inter, but Fonseca believes that the Rossoneri can catch up quickly. Today’s edition of Gazzetta dello Sport has highlighted this fact (see photo below), also outlining what got the manager the job.
Inter are within reach
Fonseca is eager to take on the challenge at Milan and, above all, to work with such great players. He’s convinced of the current squad and its qualities, with only a No.9 needed to make the big leap. Indeed, he wants someone who can restore the momentum for the Rossoneri.
The Portuguese manager is well aware of the difficulties in the league, having coached Roma for two seasons, and he knows that the Milan fans are very disappointed with the outcome of this campaign. Still, he feels Inter can be reached quickly without having to jump through hoops this summer.
In the talks with Milan, Fonseca didn’t make any big demands to the management (of the Leao must stay type) and he didn’t set any limits either: the Rossoneri are good enough to win the league. The only condition being, as mentioned, that a striker will be needed this season.
Joshua Zirkzee remains one of the top targets and his €40m clause is within reach, but the likes of Serhou Guirassy, Jonathan David and Benjamin Sesko are also on the radar. None of these can be ruled out for the time being.
The mercato will be targeted
As Milan have made clear on several occasions, this summer will not be a revolution signings-wise, even if hiring a new manager is revolution-esque. Instead, the Rossoneri will make a few targeted signings to truly elevate the quality of the team.
We are talking about a defensive midfielder, a centre-back to add some security and a right-back who adds energy to the flank. And a striker, of course, but this signing is known to everyone and should indeed be taken for granted.
Fonseca has also highlighted that several players in the current squad can be revitalised, such as Pierre Kalulu, while obvious talents such as Samuel Chukwueze can be elevated. In short, Milan will carry out the necessary work on the mercato while the new manager will work on a squad with poor confidence.
When he will arrive
So, when will Fonseca first set foot at Milanello? The official announcement should arrive in the coming week or so, even if it hasn’t been fully decided yet. However, the manager’s actual arrival will have to wait until July for tax reasons.
This is not a problem, of course, as he will work remotely until then and arrive in good time ahead of the Raduno (the first training session of the season). Then, of course, several friendlies await Milan including the trip to the US to face Manchester City, Real Madrid and Barcelona.
we need also a CDM like Fofana. we need someone who can break up the play in the middle of the pitch, before they reach our centrebacks
Fofana isn’t a dm
Delulu, we need a DM
Yes over 50 goals conceded but we need a Striker only – LOGIC 🤯🤡
Milan had problems at the back but it wasn’t because we had poor defenders. Those were the same defenders we had when we won the league. Coaching problems and Injuries also affected us big time. Cos if you look at our players and Inter’s you’d see that Inter don’t necessarily have better players than us. They just had a better coach. Let’s be positive and support Fonseca. I’m sure with a quality additions we will compete.
Many things will change. Obviously. Milan need strong team for Serie A and champions league next season…
Fonseca should see how Pioli worked with the team when facing Inter di Merda months and years ago.
He doesn’t ask big, 🤣🤣🤣 this is the main reason which push the crapmanagers to choose him.
I hope this is just another media make up lie, otherwise we are in deep trouble.
We will still need a couple defenders, a dm and I would say 2 strikers. Additional champions league games were gonna need depth unless we crash out and no EL thereafter. But even if all finders does is come in and blow the budget on strikers it will be a job well done, at least we’ll have some for the next manager to build around
That coach is joke. He win nothing as coach. He’s a yes man. That’s the main reason he was chosen as Milan next coach
You guys talk a lot of rubbish. Fonseca has won 9 trophies so far in his career. That includes 3 league titles and 6 cup titles with 3 different teams.
Pioli only has 1 league title. Fonseca also has a better win percentage compared to Pioli and he is better at developing players than Pioli who for some bizarre reasons likes to consistently play our players out of their best position. Sigh!
Musah, Adli, RLC and Okafor were all played out of their natural position this season. I can’t even imagine how confused they are under Pioli mad man tactics and formation.
These players will improve under Fonseca including Chukwueze, Thiaw and Kalulu.
I agree with Fonseca that our squad is already good enough to challenge Inter and we should have done better this season. Okafor is a proper number 9 and better suited for this team but Pioli keeps playing Giroud instead and forcing Okafor to play on the wing when is not a winger. Okafor is a CF. SMH
ALSO, The players we have in this team is best suited for a 433 formation not 4231. Pioli is the reason why Milan are underperforming and we will see a big improvement with Fonseca.
Okafor is a winger, inform you first and then write. Did you took the proper time to investigate which position did he played in Szalsburg ?
Always played as a left winger, go and check season heatmap…
Bullshit,
1 Titel in Italy is bester than 3 in your Ukraine
Loose your Anto—Italian mood
Inter have Taremi and Zielinski and probably sign Bento and new CB too. All this with renewals for Lautaro,Barella, Inzaghi. Zielinski will be superstar under Inzaghi and Taremi will score 15 atleast with Inter xG.
You will need alot more than just a striker.
You need to reshape your mindset, because next season you need to be ready for war. Inter is ready. Motta and Conte are getting 150M€ transfer war chest
To compete with Inter next season. How about Napoli and Juventus. this coach want send to send Milan to hell.
Ok the question is when did they meet with the Coach and he agreed on this report
Some of you guys just start commenting and insulting the Coach like as if he had a hand on this,I mean this report is completely fake and just looking headlines to publish 😒😒
Who said he has a choice so he can agree or not 🤣.
He listens, or maybe in this case reads, and node his head yes boss Cardinal similar to Zlatan amd the rest of the clowns 🤡🤡🤡
There were games this season our midfield in front of our own box was virtually non-existence. At times Milan looked so lost in front of our backs it literally looked like a 4-6 or 5 5 rather than 4231 etc. Was this a result of blown assignments, midfielders being too attack minded, or poor tactical planning? Problematic if Theo gets north to do Theo things with Rafa less than interested in tracking back. Whatever the reasons, we leaked like a sieve and many many times I was left feeling like we needed a destroyer. Benny on his day is probably best in that role. Yunus has the physical gifts and energy but his skill set doesn’t quite line up. He’s magic carrying the ball, but asking him to sit deep and release the front line ala Kroos, well, he’s young yet but not something we should expect. Same could probably be said regarding TIjani. Adli has a more suitable profile given his ability to put a ball through and his best performances usually translated to solid team performance. However, like all of our midfield, he was inconsistent. If the group stays as is, Tijani is probably the only guy who staked a claim to 100% start next match. Not being able to identify a sure fire 11 from the full squad and then give that 11 a run to build chemistry, absolutely hurt us.
I dont know if adding a player to the midfield
Is the answer because I do have faith in the talent in the team. However, our midfield absolutely left me wanting on multiple occasions and it needs to get sorted if Milan want to improve their results next year. We didn’t struggle scoring. We struggled keeping it out. But then again WTF do I know?