AC Milan have made an internal promotion to fill the role of sporting director with Antonio D’Ottavio taking the position, a report claims.
La Gazzetta dello Sport writes how after the farewell of Paolo Maldini and Ricky Massara, Milan had made it clear that they would not be making an external hire to fill the technical or sporting director roles.
Thus, Milan have reorganised themselves internally, with the transfer window passing through CEO Giorgio Furlani and chief scout Geoffrey Moncada.
However, the sporting director box remained to be filled, at least in bureaucratic terms. Now the name has emerged and it is Antonio D’Ottavio, the head scouting of the youth sector.
Who is D’Ottavio?
Born in 1982, D’Ottavio arrived at Milan in 2017 after working as a scout for Torino Sunderland and Inter. He is Moncada’s trusted right-hand man, with whom he will collaborate more closely now.
There is an important emphasis, however: D’Ottavio will become part of the team that operates in the mercato, but always within the collective which is sort of how most English clubs operate.
In other words, he will not be the figure of a classic sporting director who moves more or less independently to conduct negotiations and manage the budget.
The fact that the choice fell on a figure already present within the club – evidently appreciated – is the confirmation of the new Rossoneri model.
D’Ottavio arrived at Milan under the Chinese management of Li Yonghong and was then kept despite the subsequent change of ownership. He had obtained a federal diploma in sports management in April 2022.
