We are now in the month of May, and AC Milan appear no closer to appointing a new sporting director as the saga drags on.
As Corriere dello Sport report, the choice of the new director has descended into a bit of a soap opera, with a revolving cast and seemingly nobody within the current management wanting to make a courageous decision.
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D’Amico fades away
After the Fabio Paratici idea was abandoned, the CEO Giorgio Furlani pushed for Tony D’Amico, the current sporting director of Atalanta. However, that has fallen through too because Furlani’s counterpart Luca Percassi put up a wall.
“D’Amico will certainly wear New Balance next year [who will make Atalanta’s kits]. Regardless of the real or presumed interest of other clubs, he will have the enormous task of creating a competitive Atalanta next year too,” he said.
The CEO of the Bergamo club added: “We are happy with him, he is happy with us, and he will have a great responsibility. We still have four games left and now we are focused on this final part of the season and we will move forward.”
D’Amico was Furlani’s favorite in the race for the crucial position but now – barring any big surprises – he will have to change his approach.
Cardinale’s culpability
Gerry Cardinale, owner of the club, recently met with Paratici, but the fireplace – lit to mend relations last minute – came up with black smoke instead of white smoke. Translated: the former Juventus director will not arrive, and it added another bit of drama to the plot.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic is not as public-facing as he was, but his opinion is always considered. He is the Senior Advisor to the ownership and someone that Cardinale in particular trusts. The Swede put Igli Tare as his first choice.
Furlani met the former Lazio director several times in recent weeks, but was never fully convinced by him. On the other hand, Tare could decide to say no to the Rossoneri due to the long wait.
Management unchanged?
In short: the ideas are not very clear, time passes and there is no decision. That leads to a rather worrying possibility: keeping the current management structure without any additions. However, it is the last option to date.
After all, it was Furlani himself who confirmed the search for a sporting director “We want to improve the sporting part. In the last two seasons we have not had a traditional sports director. Now what we are evaluating is to take a more traditional sports director and reconsolidate those roles in one person.”
The will is there, but the road to get there is rather arduous, especially if there are too many different voices acting as navigator.
Just a bunch of egomaniacs getting heavily paid to take the worst decisions in football over and over again. Looks like a movie from Sorrentino.
Two factions. One victim. That’s why there won’t be any project at Milan to speak of for the foreseeable future …
It will be Tare – who will only take it because it beats not working, or no-one. I can’t imagine anyone who is currently gainfully employed is looking at this shower and thinking “I’d love to be part of that set-up”.
Ironically Tare last bossbat Lazio seems easier to deal with
Journalists reporting now what fans assest months ago, Patrici and D’Amico are going nowhere. Atalanta will not let him go. That would be a disaster for them, especially if Gasperini is leaving. They need to insure continuity in their project. They will need a replacement before letting him go and they won’t look for one with their director under contract for a few years, neither will Bologna. These were dead-ends. The due diligence is two 5 minute calls. Would you allow your director to leave, No. Ask the director, if they say yes, then you have to wait for the club to replace them and they won’t. So you are back to square 1. Find someone who is available.
End of story. Here, we made a prolonged saga out of a simple path that leads to a timely decision. As usual.
bunch of yes-mans looking 4 another one to complete their comedy group,
yall knew what happen to last director who truly fight to make Milan big again, no smart director want to end-up the same, esp if he’s nobody at Milan.
they wont let him work, they want him lick their a5s
AC Milan’s current management has plunged the club into its darkest era, marked by catastrophic on-field results (a ninth-place Serie A collapse), chaotic leadership, and a glaring lack of vision. The mishandling of stars like Theo Hernández and Rafael Leão—key players pushed toward exits due to contract incompetence—exposes a regime prioritizing short-term chaos over long-term stability. Failed transfers, a rudderless hierarchy reliant on agent Jorge Mendes, and defensive shambles (four clean sheets in 24 games) compound the crisis. Once a symbol of European excellence, Milan now reels under a directionless board, whose incoherent decisions and accountability-free PR spin have stripped the club of its identity, tarnishing a legacy built by legends like Sacchi and Berlusconi. This isn’t just a slump—it’s systemic failure.