Zlatan Ibrahimovic has suggested that AC Milan’s owner Gerry Cardinale would be happy with more spending in the summer window, but he has told him that only what is necessary should be spent.
Emerson Royal was presented to the media this morning at his unveiling press conference after becoming the third signing of the summer yesterday. He joins on a four-year deal from Spurs and will challenge captain Davide Calabria for the right-back spot.
However, that does not mean that the fan base are entirely happy because one of the most important gaps – the defensive midfielder – has not yet arrived, and there has been little movement on the sales front to accommodate potential other pieces like a creative midfielder and a deputy striker.
Ibrahimovic was present alongside the Brazilian full-back to answer questions from journalists about his arrival and also other potential signings, with his comments relayed by MilanNews.
Was there always trust in the deal?
“Before starting I want to welcome Black Panther Emerson Royal, we have been following him for a long time but we brought him in at the right time. [He is a] Physical, offensive and defensive player: he plays with a lot of intensity and a lot of grit.
“With Emerson we become even stronger. He was one of the objectives we set ourselves from the beginning of the transfer market and finally today he is here. This is day five of the seven that God created. We are happy and motivated.”
Gerry Cardinale is in Italy, can we expect some movement?
“Gerry is in town, we had meetings yesterday and today. We talked about various things. Nothing new. Gerry wants us to spend more but I say no, we spend what is necessary to strengthen.”
What happens with the right flank now, and can you tell us about Kalulu’s situation?
“We need to talk to him and find the best for him. I can’t answer today. We need to understand what’s best for him and for the club. I’m sorry Florenzi got hurt but with Emerson we have an extra reinforcement for the team. Emerson was very keen to come”
Is it reasonable to expect two more signings, given that we are on the fifth day?
“It doesn’t mean that two more players will arrive. To build a world it’s not just who comes in. Then we’ll see. We’re in no hurry, everything is under control, we have our objectives, the strategy we are following to strengthen the team. Always with profiles that we are looking for.”
Will there be other moves in defence?
“What we want to build is a compact team. Offensively we are compact and strong, I don’t see any movement. Defensive part with Emerson, Pavlovic… Then we’ll see, maybe there is room for something extra. We are working on it.”
Is the sixth day for the midfielder?
“It could be. We want to build a team as compact as possible.”
How is the summer going? And what do you think of Duplantis wearing a Milan shirt?
“A lot of work, demanding but it’s a fun job. Day after day I learn many things: when you work with strong people, you become strong. There are many things to do but I like the responsibility.
“Congratulations to Duplantis for the record: I have nothing to do with the shirt, he’s a Milan fan. He’s a great representative of Sweden. When I stopped, someone had to carry on the work, because football died in Sweden after me (smiles).”
😍 @mondohoss600 x #ACMilan ❤️🖤 pic.twitter.com/KThVq2Bgcg
— SempreMilan (@SempreMilanCom) August 12, 2024
Is Emerson better as a defensive or attacking full-back?
“The choice of Emerson was simple. He was the right profile. A balance between attack and defence. If you look at Fonseca and the identity, a profile like Emerson is perfect.
“If I have to choose, in my world I like him more attacking. But the important thing is that he can do both phases. We play to attack, we are not on the pitch to defend the results.”
A thought on Silvio Berlusconi before tonight’s game…
“When we talk about Silvio Berlusconi, he is a person I care a lot about. The first time I came to Milan, he made me happy. I had so much respect for the person. I am sorry that he is no longer with us but he will always remain in our memory.
“Tonight we are playing the Berlusconi Trophy, a tribute to him. I always try to bring and transmit what he taught me: for me he was a great and we are here thanks to him, he was Milan. Everyone has respect and gratitude towards him.”
Yeah right. Zlatan what a clown you’ve become. From God to Gerry’s lapdog. What a tragedy.
The management hasn’t shied away from spending, Zlatan is right however, there is a difference between spending stupidly and ending up like Man Utd, Chelsea and Everton. We’ve already had a couple of big money flops. CDK, Paqueta, Caldara etc. No use throwing money around if the club ends up bankrupt again. Look at Inter, they won the league and went bankrupt in the same season, now they’re in the hands of the hedgefund their owners owed money to. All they have signed is free agents and fulfilled their obligations to buy on loan deals.
Those were purchases under Elliot – not Redbird
So NO it is incorrect to say “ The management hasn’t shied away from spending”. Having a 35M NET Transfer Cap and a wage cap – is NOT demonstrating they are not afraid to spend. Quite the opposite unfortunately
Poor Zlatan. Towing the company line. But what else is he supposed to say I guess – he wants to keep his job lol
Day 6 will be last signing. Day 7 is rest, no more signing but selling.
“I say no”. Wtf. Who does Ibra think that he is?
He’s the senior advisor to RedBird while nobody but a log of wood forming to be relevant on sempremilan
*While you’re
yeah man Gyokeres sounds horrible imagine a +50 striker coming our way… The only thing Ibra is protecting us from is winning titles…
Ok so a few things here…seems the Kalulu rumours are true based on the way he antthat question and Gerry told them not to spend lol. Can’t fool me with with that “I told him no” 😂😂😂. Nice try. Also for the armchair pundits here on the forum who don’t think we need to have better defence….even management is admitting they do
Gerry said: “don’t spend goddamit”
Zlatan said: “we have to. I and fonseca in love with emerson royal”.
Forza Milan ❤🖤❤🖤
I think he done well to publicly trust his players. I’m just baffled that I’m gradually accepting this narrative they’re feeding us. Well, having to accept it. Last year we saw how thin in quality we are when injuries flood in and instead of bulking with quality we’re one out, one in.
We lose giroud, the idea was to get 2 strikers in. All we’ve done is replace him like for like.
We lose florenzi and replace him with royal and further decimating the squad by loaning Kalulu out.
We lose Kjaer and replace him with pavlovic. Last year we were so thin we called gabbia back, moved Theo to centre back and blooded simic who we’ve also since sold. What happens this year because believe me those injuries will come.
Unless the idea really is to get serious minutes into bartesaghi, zeroli, liberali and camarda in which case they should just make it known. I’d be happy to know we’re giving these boys a chance instead of stop gap players at circa 20m. I don’t see any progression in this new squad from last year. I guess time will tell but until we add a couple bits of star quality amongst this squad we’ll remain stagnant. We could win the league, but that’s more dependant on what the teams around us do instead of blowing them away and that’s the difference. We should have never let Kessie or romagnoli go, we should have spent big on a top class talisman, a 20 league goals a season calibre player.
Fair points, but ultimately the strikers available on the market are crazy money and I understand not wanting to pay the commissions on Zirkzee or Guirrasy.
Also, we have Gabbia and Saelemakers back in the squad now and the Florenzi replacement takes up a non-Italian squad space so we currently have none free.
We’ve also failed to sell, so that should be a focus before bringing in a fourth or fifth striker; surely we need to see what Fonseca can get from Jovic or Okafor in the meantime.
Kessie leaving was bad and we didn’t adequately replace, for sure. I hope we don’t repeat that situation with Theo over the next two years – we need to have a succession plan in place for that.
I would argue this is not a matter of spending. Its a matter of scouting. How much is spent is irrelevant if the right targets are purchased.
The problem-
The right targets aren’t even being targeted.
Things we don’t need-
Wingers, CAMs, Mezzali
Things we need-
CDMs/Double pivots
And honestly still a #9
Mgmt has had years to replace Kessie and a year to replace Tonali.
The defense could improve sure but they get left exposed by the midfield who cannot defend and cannot keep their shape. This was a problem for Pioli and is still a problem for Fonseca. This has no been addressed.
Do that and fans will be happy.
Oh and maybe sell the players that dont fit the system.
This is not about spending all you can- its about spending correctly.
The frustration comes because we have the money to get the right players but not the ability to identify them.
Serie A is extremely open this season and with the right purchases we should be favorites for the scudetto.
Are we favorites? No.
Quick question zlatan if Elliot /Redbird were running the club back in 2010 and not Berlusconi would you have arrived from Barca?
So Elliot /Redbird wants to spend more but you said no this coming from a guy who constantly jumped ship due to big $$$ and wanted to play with better players let’s take for example that Time you ran from Milan to Paris that had nothing to do with getting paid more or playing with top class players then?
I also DON’T BELIEVE THAT ELLIOT /REDBIRD WANTS TO SPEND MORE OR INDEED TAKES ANY NOTICE OF YOU.
On a more positive note let’s enjoy and celebrate the greatest of all owners who had Ac milan in his heart and who led Ac milan to greatness both on and off the pitch and in so many ways took Milan to a whole new level of football.
For those old enough to remember and to which are GENUINE SUPPORTERS of this once truly great club and to those who will never let our history be forgotten and most importantly UNDERSTAND WHAT AC MILAN WAS.
THANK YOU PRESIDENT BERLUSCONI 👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏
I wonder what 2010 ibra would have made of today’s Milan. Good question I’d like to know the answer.
Spot on!
Quick question zlatan if Elliot /Redbird were running the club back in 2010 and not Berlusconi would you have arrived from Barca?
– that’s really good question
So Elliot /Redbird wants to spend more but you said no this coming from a guy who constantly jumped ship due to big $$$ and wanted to play with better players let’s take for example that Time you ran from Milan to Paris that had nothing to do with getting paid more or playing with top class players then?
– even before that, when he choose to switch place with Eto’o (he’s going to barca & Eto’o to merda), because barca at that time also have Henry, Ronaldinho & Messi, and he won nothing there.
OH yeah….. You’re right…… Because I’m sure it had nothing to do with the fact that Ibra and Thiago Silva had to be sold to balance the books because SIlvio ended up running the club into the ground, right?
It was Silva and Ibra wanting more money. Damn mercenaries….
You can’t chose to only remember the parts that make sense to you about Silvio. “GENUINE SUPPORTERS” and all …
Agree with most of your points but not Ibra wanting to leave for PSG. He clearly stated (in interviews, book, etc) that he wanted to stay and made Galliani promised. Just to see him being sold the next day. He even made ridiculous request to PSG just to scare ‘em off but they’re all accepted. So that’s that.
Always wonder how Milan would be if Silva and Ibra didn’t leave. But I’ll always be thankful to Berlusconi. It was in his time I had the most memorable moment in supporting Milan.
If Kalulu goes we need to invest in another defender, defensive midfielder, then smardzic. But they’re kind of slow to sell and to negotiate deals.
We would have gone for Kone in the first place than go for fofana. I hear inter want Jonathan David for free next summer. Maybe our negotiating team is weak, let’s bring back Galiani.
I think it’s a bit like an old boys club. Galliani was the capo di tutti😂 things do seem to work more smoothly for moratta, giuntoli, galliani lotito, Cairo and percassi. They don’t like the new money showy yank money. That’s my theory anyway
“Gerry wants us to spend more but I say no, we spend what is necessary to strengthen.”
What a bunch of baloney. Ibra is really shielding Gerry’s back with this weak PR statement.
What a sell out.
Duplantis only growing in my eyes. Of course he’s a Milan fan. I wonder if he has a name and number on his shirt?
LMAO!!! Ibra doing Ibra things…
#smallballsneedsIbraCardinale?
should we make this happen on X? Gerry thinks he can use Ibra to get less heat? I think we need to make it worse…
Imagine if we do this on X, for a US businessman that’s stock su1c1de….