Tomorrow’s derby between Inter and AC Milan at San Siro will see two differing approaches collide, ones dictated by the respective CEOs Beppe Marotta and Giorgio Furlani.
Today’s edition of La Gazzetta dello Sport (seen below) recalls that when Furlani was born, Marotta had already been wandering around the football fields for three years as a director.
Back in 1979, while the fifth Andreotti government was being formed in the country, Marotta himself became the sporting director of Varese.
There may be 22 years of difference in age and they may have traced different paths to the role they are in now, but they share similarities too, such as knowing when to take a step back so as not to interfere too much with those who directly deal with the field.
The rest is a completely different scenario. Marotta was born 500 metres from the Ossola stadium in Varese, he watched training sessions thanks to the help of the legendary Angelino, the warehouse worker. Today he has the same passion as then.
His experience has obviously grown, as has the ability not to be carried away by events. Marotta is a football politician and he knows everything and everyone in football. From Varese to Inter he won nine titles: eight with Juventus (including 2018-19, he built the team) and one with the Nerazzurri.
He worked at clubs that could fetch Cristiano Ronaldo and Romelu Lukaku, yet lately he has learned to start every public speech with the word sustainability, which translated in simple words means lowering the wages and closing transfer windows with a profit or at least break even.
Meanwhile, Furlani’s official appointment as Milan’s CEO came in in November 2022, with the summer transfer market that has just closed being the first real test.
Today’s Milan is his creation. At the meeting at the beginning of July, he stated: “The objective is to be competitive in Italy and Europe.”
Apart from speaking at the beginning of the USA tour to reiterate how America and the globalisation of the brand were among the priorities of the club, he hasn’t spoken much.
In his first summer he called and met with many agents. None of the new arrivals cost a fortune, because sustainability is also a buzzword for RedBird Capital.
Furlani is a Milan fan, who has three children. He also has a degree in Economics and Finance from Bocconi and master’s degree in Business Administration from Harvard.
He served as a former portfolio manager of Elliott (in London) and having on the Milan board of directors since 2018, which is where it all began.
Furlani’s creation 🤔
Why not Moncada? He is the one who is responsible for determining transfer target both during previous management and current management.
Yea that was weird. Marotta is like both the person that identifies the talent and signs the checks whereas in Milan it’s split between two people
Well said thats the difference between scout and manager.
Scouts can recommend 10players but manager will choose 1. No matter who the scout is Manager will get good or bad name depending on his decisions.
Its still Maldini’s Milan more than half of team brought by Maldini, where as only 2 starters by Furlani.
But Furlani is not the one who make the choice in both previous and current management. It was Maldini and now Moncada.