Zlatan Ibrahimovic recently shared his thoughts on Milan’s academy system, the club’s ambitions and the importance of Max Allegri during a Milanello tour with CBS Sports.
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Before the Derby della Madonnina, which Milan ended up winning 1-0, CBS Sports sent a team to Milanello to meet Ibrahimovic. The former striker showed them around the training ground, as you can see in the video at the bottom, while answering some questions.
Among other things, he spoke about how the Rossoneri view their academy system, which has undergone a massive change, and what the ambitions are for the first team. He also shared a few thoughts on Allegri, who has been so important this season.
Who was young Zlatan looking at when it came to Milan icons?
“Marco Van Basten. It’s funny because when I joined Ajax, since he also used to play for them, the fans compared me with him. That was too much pressure for me then, I wasn’t ready to handle that pressure on that level.
“Obviously, Van Basten is an icon, he’s a legend, and at this club he’s part of the famous trio from the Netherlands that made history with the club. So he was my symbol of Milan, and he was amazing. He only had a short career, but he remains in history for what he did.”
What is the strategy for homegrown players these days?
“In the culture of Italy, everyone is focused on the result, even the youth coaches want to win. So if they want to win, they also want to field players who are ready, but then the players with potential won’t get any playing time. We have taken this out of Milan, changing the philosophy completely.
“First of all, we want to give our youngsters game time because when you are young, game time is so important. If you are not playing for the Futuro, you will play for the Primavera, 100%. So everyone gets game time. Then from there, you balance things between the Primavera and the Futuro.
“However, when you come into the first team, it’s all based on results. Then we need results. We are trying to bring out the youth, which we want, but like I said at the beginning, we are haunted by the history of the club.
“Seven Champions League, 19 Scudetti, all the Ballon d’Or winners who have played here; fans are used to that. If we are not giving the fans that, we are not giving them Milan, so we need to give them Milan.”
What is Max Allegri like?
“He’s a character. I also had him as a coach and even back then, he handled the players very well. He’s very good at creating relationships with the players and managing the group.
“It wasn’t easy because we had Seedorf, we had me, Cassano, all of these big characters that were not afraid to say things. Then Allegri has to think about the collective, he cannot think about just one, so already back then he needed to work on the big character of the team.
“He handled it well, we won the league the first year, and he’s bringing the same things to the team today. Maybe now he’s missing some big characters that he would like to have a few more of.”
What’s it like working with him now?
“I think working with Allegri is very easy because he’s the expert. He has a lot of experience, having been at big clubs, and he’s a winner. Being at Milan is not for everyone, it’s difficult to be a coach of Milan, and it’s very demanding for you. He understands what that means.”
What about Modric?
We just keep him happy, you don’t need to explain anything. Then we also have Rabiot, who I believe is on another level as well. It’s funny because in this team, we have Maignan, Nkunku and Rabiot, whom I played with when they were 17 years old at PSG.”
