The takeover of AC Milan has finally happened after weeks of speculation and rumours, with information beginning to emerge about how the future of the club will look.
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As reported this morning by La Gazzetta dello Sport (via MilanNews), the founder of RedBird – Gerry Cardinale – met the top management of Milan as well as head coach Stefano Pioli on Tuesday, before seeing them again yesterday during his visit to Casa Milan.
Paolo Maldini and Ricky Massara will have their renewed in the next few days and CEO Ivan Gazidis will also remain in the new corporate structure because Cardinale believes that continuity is key.
That means the current directors will be able to continue their work and one of the main priorities is to renew Rafael Leao. His contract expires in 2024 and there is a release clause of €150m in it, but he needs a big pay rise so the €4.5m net per season offered a few months ago may not be enough.
Then it will be necessary to strengthen the team and there are names like Nicolò Zaniolo of Roma plus Club Brugge duo Charles De Ketelaere and Noa Lang for the attack. Gleison Bremer of Torino and Renato Sanches of Lille are targets respectively for the defence and midfield.
Finally, it will be necessary to resolve the situation linked to Zlatan Ibrahimovic. The Swede will meet shortly with Maldini and Massara and his future will be evaluated, also on the basis of how his initial recovery from his knee operation goes.
