After months of maybes, Igli Tare walked through the doors of Casa Milan as the new sporting director of AC Milan yesterday. But what did day one entail?
Unlike what would be common in any other job, Igli Tare is not being blessed with the gift of time. There is no time to adjust or even really get into the building. Instead, it is straight into the action, with some already claiming that Milan are behind in things.
Of course, this would have been avoidable, though.
Links to Tare first began in February, with reports in early March suggesting that the Albanian was to be appointed by the club after meeting with Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Gerry Cardinale in London. Now, almost three months later, he is finally through the door.
In the time between then, the Rossoneri met with several sporting directors, seeking to sell them the project. However, they were often left rejected, leaving many to question if Tare was the actual goal, or the only candidate who would do, which we wrote about last month.
What matters now is that Tare is through the door, and he was thrown into the job from the start.
So, what did the first day of Tare’s Milan look like?
The boring bits
We need to first discuss the ‘boring’ bits. His first day began at Casa Milan, where the sporting director signed his contract in the afternoon, with reports suggesting he had avoided the front doors to stay out of the eyes of the media, who were waiting.
Then, at around 19:00 CEST, the Rossoneri announced that the director had signed a deal in their official press release. This, as is common, was accompanied by his first picture in his new role across social media platforms.
From the press release, we were also given his first words to the media, as well as some from Giorgio Furlani.
IT: “Joining a Club like Milan is a source of great pride and responsibility. I thank the club for entrusting me with this role. The club knows my great determination and my desire to do well by putting all my experience at the service of a great Club that has the absolute objective of returning to being a protagonist in Italy and Europe.”
GF: “We are delighted to welcome Igli Tare into the Rossoneri family. He is the right choice to start over from: his expertise, determination and strong values, combined with a solid knowledge of Italian football and an international vision, make him the ideal figure to contribute to the Club’s relaunch through the development of an ambitious sporting project.”
Included in that press release was also an important clarification. Recently, Furlani sent a ‘warning’ as such, stating that anyone who arrived would still have to go through him. Effectively stamping his own authority onto the club.
Imaginably, this would be a message said behind closed doors. However, the club mentioned this in their statement yesterday, “AC Milan announces that it has entrusted the role of Sporting Director of the First Team to Igli Tare, who will report to the Club’s CEO, Giorgio Furlani.”
There are probably three ways of viewing that. Firstly, as a sort of insurance for Tare, that not everything is by him, to help his stock if any decisions are not liked by supporters.
Secondly, a director reporting to a CEO is not uncommon in any line of work and certainly not in football either. The Chief Executive Officer controls the finances of the business, so it is natural that things must still be signed off by him.
Thirdly, it is a message from the management that they are still the supreme part of the club. That, despite hiring a sporting director, the management are still the ones who are in charge. Again, this was probably a given. However, with the recent protests against the management, it feels like a message which will not help things at all.
It also somewhat belittles Tare’s authority, adding more mystery to the actual powers of the management. Certainly a new thing with this group… not (see Zlatan Ibrahimovic for example).
There is also no clarity on the length of his contract, which is certainly weird. However, considering how bad the Diavolo have looked due to the contractual errors of their head coaches this season, it is probably not a bad thing – imagine announcing a three-year deal for the project to fail…
So with the boring bits done and out of the way, let’s get to the meat of day one.
Straight to business
As is a necessity for anyone, especially any new member of management, the Albanian met the staff which he will now be working with to introduce himself and get to grips with his environment.
Of course, this would be expected. However, it still goes a long way. Getting to know everyone in the environment reflects well on him as an actual person and not just a member of staff. Management 101 quickly, you are much more likely to get the best from a team that likes and respects you than one that doesn’t.
Around two hours before it was announced that he had signed, Roma’s own sporting director Florent Ghisolfi had travelled to Casa Milan to hold discussions about the futures of two players: Tammy Abraham and, more importantly, Alexis Saelemaekers, who is on loan with the Roman club.
So far, we know that further meetings are planned between the two, which means that the Giallorossi did not close a deal for the Belgian winger, despite hopes to do so. It was reported that the ‘big guns’ had, in fact, all travelled to Milano with this hope in mind.
Milan, per reports, are seeking around €20-25m, which should be feasible. However, the impact of Abraham could, again, be rather significant.
There have been suggestions this morning that Tare appreciates the characteristics of Abraham, as he provides a positive presence inside the dressing room. So, it cannot be ruled out that the Rossoneri would consider a move for the Englishman.
His wages would probably be a holding point, at least currently. However, if they were to be lowered, as would be expected for a club outside of Europe, potentially with automatic triggers for relevant competitions, perhaps it could become feasible.
Either way, it will not be the last meeting between Ghisolfi and Tare. Perhaps, other players will also be discussed in the future.
Then, there was a set of talks which could halt any changes in Abraham’s situation, with Tare meeting Giuseppe Riso, who represents a number of Diavolo players.
Discussions were mainly about two players, though: Francesco Camarda and Lorenzo Lucca, both strikers for the future, albeit the latter may also be ready now.
From what has been gathered, further meetings will take place in the next few days about the future of Camarda, with Tare marking the youngster as one of his big assets to work with before he came into the role.
It is believed the parties will discuss the structure for his future, which will probably see the starlet sent on loan, with the Futuro no longer providing any value to his development. However, it can certainly be debated if it did anyway.
Then, discussions also took place regarding Lorenzo Lucca, with the agent informing Milan that the striker will cost €25m this summer. With him not being a priority for the Diavolo, though, these discussions are not really important, so whilst they will be discussed again in the future, it will not be done urgently.
Finally, with Tare meeting Riso and Ghisolfi, it is not impossible to rule out the fact that other players were discussed. Those players in mind, of course, are in Rome currently, and are believed to have possibly been Tommaso Baldanzi, Bryan Cristante and Gianluca Mancini.
Treated to dinner
The final thing of the day was another meeting, this time, with other members of the Milan management, though. Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Geoffrey Moncada and Furlani were all present, with Tare, to have dinner.
Not much of importance? Well, this would not be the case. In fact, it was probably the most important meeting of the day.
The four are believed to have discussed a wide range of things for the future, though most importantly, the plans for Milan. It is probably a good idea to go back to what both Furlani and Tare said in their interviews here.
In Tare’s announcement, he stated it is great to be at ‘the service of a great Club that has the absolute objective of returning to being a protagonist in Italy and Europe,’ whilst Furlani mentioned some keywords, ‘right choice to start over from’ and ‘the Club’s relaunch’.
We know, from this, that two things are set to occur. Milan want to go back to fighting at the top of Italy, and in turn, Europe. However, it will not be done without significant change, with the CEO effectively stating that the club are ‘restarting’.
From what has been reported, the four engaged in a four-hour dinner, which was hosted by Ibrahimovic, though, considering he is Gerry Cardinale’s vessel, this is not really a surprise, especially given both were initially pushing for Tare’s hire.
Things started with a discussion about renewals. Mike Maignan and Theo Hernanez’s cases were, imaginably, the two priorities. However, the situations of Christian Pulisic and Mattia Liberali were both likely discussed, albeit with the former taking a more notable priority.
From there, the group moved on to a discussion about the coach. However, this is not a decision which is expected to arrive quickly. We already know that Sergio Conceicao will speak to the Albanian shortly to understand his position; however, past that, there is little knowledge.
What emerged from last night’s meeting is that Vincenzo Italiano is still the preference, even if he is close to securing a new deal in Bologna. Had Tare been appointed sooner, perhaps this would not be the case…
It seems that Ibra and the new sporting director were the last to leave, with Daniele Longo posting a video of the pair hugging and then going their separate ways after the dinner had finished at around 00:30.
Stretta di mano e abbraccio tra Ibrahimovic e Tare, cena di mercato finita @cmdotcom pic.twitter.com/QpHIHaQ0nz
— Daniele Longo (@86_longo) May 26, 2025
What does ‘Day One’ say about the future?
With us finishing (quite literally) at the end of the first day, we can gather a little bit about the ideas for the club’s priorities for the next few weeks.
At number one, it seems the club want to target the renewals which they want to complete. From the news of the past few weeks, and more importantly yesterday, we know that those of Mike Maignan and Christian Pulisic are a must, with both ‘fundamental’ to the project moving forward.
Whilst these discussions take place, Tare and Co. will probably be tasked with learning the wishes of Conceicao and Italiano. At present, the club are seemingly happy to wait until the tap runs dry with the Rossoblu; if it doesn’t and he doesn’t renew, they will act.
Early plans for the ‘relaunch’ will also take place in this time, and the club will likely begin to inform certain players of their futures and how they may lie away from Milan.
It is far too early to judge Tare and what the future looks like. However, as first days go, this was certainly an important one. The Albanian was busy, but with his and the Rossoneri’s ambitions, it needed to be.
Now, we must wait and see what the future holds. As first impressions go, though, Tare is seemingly ready for the size of this rebuild.
Just extend Liberali first please. He should be Pulišić’s understudy.
“Tommaso Baldanzi, Bryan Cristante and Gianluca Mancini”
Nonsense. Baldanzi is too small and has flopped at Roma. We already have Liberali, who is a footballer. Cristante is a poor man’s Pobega. Mancini would be an excellent addition, but why would Roma sell him?
* we already have Liberali who is a foot taller.