AC Milan are approaching a critical period, one where decisions will be made that should in theory shape the direction of the club for multiple years to come.
In turn, Milan have found themselves at a crossroads. After the entrusting of the current management and the hiring of consecutive Portuguese managers that have not yielded the required results, there are calls for a return to leaving the sporting project to those who know Italian football.
On the other side, there is also the obvious temptation to follow on with a more ‘European’ approach that has at times seen Milan become pioneers, both in terms of recruitment from various leagues abroad led by the now-technical director Geoffrey Moncada.
The continental approach
The management situation at Milan is going through a period of turmoil, with various names in the mix for the definition of a stable and competitive structure.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic seems to have been the catalyst for this process, but it is the CEO Giorgio Furlani who has received the official promotion and who must make strategic decisions for the future of the club.
In recent days, the name of Markus Krösche has emerged among the candidates for a key role in the management of Milan. The current sporting director of Eintracht Frankfurt could represent the ideal choice for the philosophy of RedBird Capital, given his record with talent scouting and player trading.
Krösche has stood out in recent years for his work in scouting and sports management, both with RB Leipzig and Eintracht Frankfurt. During his time with the Red Bull club, he has completed moves that have paid off financially such as Dani Olmo, Christopher Nkunku and Angelino.
There were some other strategic operations that allowed the club to earn capital gains even if they did not work at Leipzig, such as Ademola Lookman and Lazar Samardzic who have since gone on to star in Serie A.
His career turning point came with Eintracht Frankfurt, building a team capable of winning the Europa League thanks to players like Randal Kolo Muani. The sale of the Frenchman did not destabilise the club, while Omar Marmoush became the latest prized asset to depart for big money.
The German’s mercato philosophy and his clinical eye for upcoming gems could be a good fit for an investment fund like RedBird, an ownership that has earned a reputation for focusing on the accounts rather than the on-field results.
In this sense, Krösche ability to develop young players (also through the selection of the right head coaches) and maximise the club’s economic return might make him stand out as a candidate.
In addition to the Eintracht Frankfurt chief, Furlani is also looking with interest at Thiago Scuro. The Brazilian, currently director of AS Monaco, is another director capable of generating profits in the clubs he works for.
Scuro has gained significant experience in the world of international football. His career began in Brazil, where he worked with Red Bull Bragantino, a team that represents the South American part of the Red Bull Leipzig and Salzburg project.
In 2015 he became a permanent member of the Red Bull network, contributing to the growth of the Brazilian club with a management based on the acquisition and development of young talents. Do you see a theme developing?
In 2023, Scuro made the leap to Europe, taking over the sporting direction of Monaco from Paul Mitchell, a highly regarded executive. In just 18 months, he managed to rebuild the team with targeted signings and strategic work on the talents already present in the squad.
His work brought stability and ambition to the Monegasque club, which had gone through a turbulent period after the ambitious but problematic project of the late 2010s.
What makes Scuro a possible fit for RedBird is again his talent identification and willingness to work on sustainable projects. The director has shown that he knows how to manage the market carefully, focusing on players under 27 and maximising their technical and economic value.
So, both Krösche and Scuro are two profiles that are certainly valid, but that would arguably repeat the same mistakes made in the recent past by the current ownership.
Why? The fact is that since taking over at Milan, the American fund has remained faithful to the corporate philosophy of focusing on players who have not yet matured, or low-price cast-offs from other clubs. In essence, players with a valuation of less than €20m to run the risk of making a mistake from a sporting point of view, but not from a financial one.
They are choices that have brought Milan to where it is today, a team littered with reserve-level players and without a clear physiognomy, nor pillars on which to stand in the future. It is symptomatic of money-led rather than a results-led approach.
The Italian job
Meanwhile, rumours are becoming more and more insistent about a possible return of Massimiliano Allegri, this time supported by Fabio Paratici. According to La Gazzetta dello Sport, the two – after their shared successes at Juventus – could reunite at Milan to try create a new winning era.
The idea of bringing Allegri back has gained traction in recent weeks given that the gambles on Fonseca and Conceicao did not pay off. With five Scudetti, four Supercoppa Italiana wins and two Coppa Italia trophies won at Juve, he has a winning pedigree that few out-of-work coaches boost.
Then, Paratici’s name is apparently the one in pole to become sporting director. Appreciated for his ability to build winning teams, the manager has gained further experience at Tottenham and now could be ready to return to Italy to support Giorgio Furlani and Zlatan Ibrahimovic in the club’s relaunch.
With the goal of the second star, Milan would need a targeted strategy with regards to the mercato, and Paratici could be the right man for the job. The desire to return to the game with an ambitious club and utilise his extensive network within Italy could push him to accept the challenge.
In the current panorama, Allegri represents one of the safest choices for the next manager. His knowledge of Serie A, experience in European competitions and a proven ability to manage high-level teams are some of his strengths.
After having rejected a rich offer from Saudi Arabia, the Livorno-born coach would like to coach in Italy and considers Milan an attractive challenge. Naturally there will be concerns about his style of play, yet the defensive and organisational aspect of Milan’s on-field tactical approach has been neglected for too long.
His return to the Diavolo could coincide with a targeted market, with three or four strategic reinforcements, including a left-back, an attacking midfielder and a striker. Names that, with Paratici at the helm of the market, could guarantee Milan the competitiveness needed to aim for the title.
The possible arrival of Allegri and Paratici at Milan would have a further motivation: revenge. Both left Juventus in strange circumstances, leaving under a bit of a storm cloud, and this would be the opportunity to show Italian football that they still know best.
In the present moment, with Milan looking for stability and a solid project to return to the top, the Allegri-Paratici duo could represent the safest combination. Going for Krösche or Scuro would cement the ownership’s desire to focus on a more European approach, hoping to strike the right formula.
“the American fund has remained faithful to the corporate philosophy of focusing on players who have not yet matured, or low-price cast-offs from other clubs”
How is that a corporate philosophy? It’s the approach taken by basically every club in the world that doesn’t have tons of cash to throw around
Milan should go with “Italianasation” not because it’s the better option but because if they go with it the Italian media will allow them some grace period to succeed.
In contrast to that, if they go with the “International gamble,” the media will start an immediate vicious campaign against them before they even start working. Look at the case with Fonseca and Rudi Garcia. Attacked even before they put pen to paper.
In comparison, look at the situation at Juventus. They allowed Motta grace period for almost a whole season even though they weren’t much better than Milan under Fonseca. They started attacking Motta for Juventus failures this season just recently after they got knocked out of UCL and Copa Italia, while the architect of the project, Giuntolli, who spent over 200 m on bums last summer continues to get a free pass. Out of all those players Juventus signed last summer only Thuram can say he played well, the rest are trash especially the 115 m midfield duo Douglas Luiz and Koopmeiners. Do you hear criticism of Giuntolli for his transfer campaign compared to the criticism Milan management gets from the media? Milan spent 15 m on Emerson and they keep bringing his name up, while the 115m Juventus 2 signings have been worst than Emerson Royal.
Milan and Juventus might finish this season outside of top 4, while Milan has a chance to finish this season with 2 trophies.
Go with the Italian option unless you are strong enough to not allow the media to sway you in your choices and strong enough to give your choice time to succeed.
Agree – Juventus seem to get a pass where Milan don’t which is why I’d also favor an Italian coach and sporting director. Before the 4-0 demolition from Atalanta the media were even saying they’re scudetto contenders again 🙂
Well even with that they’re still in contention for 4th place while we won’t probably even make it to the conference league.
Up until couple weeks ago, before Milan lost 3 in a row, Juventus and Milan were right next to each other on the table. Compare how the media was talking about Milan and Juventus up to that point. And even today, the criticism for Juventus mostly comes from their fans, not so much from the media.
Nobody spent nowhere as much as Juventus during the summer and they are not certain to qualify for the UCL. As bad as Milan has been this season, mostly beating themselves, they never got shellacked 0:4 by any team.
Awww booboo bee boo. Please please media give my team some nice words oh please!!
I really can’t believe a man would actually think this way.
It’s not like Fonzy and Garcia proved media wrong with good results now did they?
And Juventus are still in 4th while we’re struggling at 9th. Lecce win was not our sudden turn in form but a luck.
“Go with the Italian option unless you are strong enough to not allow the media to sway you in your choices and strong enough to give your choice time to succeed.”
It’s “internationalisation” that got us where we are today. Struggling on all fronts. There’s no sense of belonging. Well renowned experts and legends in world of football are seeing it and talking about this but this fanbase continues to be delusional and deny it.
“International gamble” lol. Serie A referees have already been bullying this club like there is no tomorrow because it is trying to present itself to the world, or to the USA more specifically.
Let’s be frank. Italian players have not been good enough for a very long time. We have to go international and MAYBE the Italians will finally start to be good enough again. NO to Italianization.
Yes we’ve been so bad that we won the Euros a couple of years ago.
Sudah saatnya MILAN DI REVOLUSI BAIK DARI SI AMERIKA,SI FURLANI DKK HARUS DI JUAL DAN HARUS DI GANTI. MEREKA MASIH MEMIMPIN MILAN,MILAN TIDAK AKAN MERAIH SCUDETTO,TIDAK MERAIH LIGA CHAMPION DLL. LIHAT REAL MADRID,TANPA SISTEM SI AMERIKA DKK. REAL MADRID BERAPA KALI JUARA LIGA CHAMPIONS DAN LA LIGA.
Is it possible that Paratici fired Allegri in the summer of 2019? and brought Sarah??? Why do you think Allegri will be the coach if Paratici is the sporting director 😀
Prefer ‘Italianisation’, but please…not Allegri, but go for Italiano instead.
Gigio Donnarumma is a beast in penalty shootouts.
Congrats to him.
In the past, Redbird was against Italian management that used a technical director and a sports director. They were proud of the Redbird model being the best and didn’t need both directors. They even added various useless and low-quality directors. Now (after failing completely) they want to go back to the Italian model. RedBird only has experience managing a small club like Toulouse, but they feel they are in the same class as Real Madrid’s management. This management/owner is indeed trash.
Milan to decide on new coach + new sporting director????!!!! That’s a joke!!!!
Please wake me up in december 2025!!!!!
It’s not really about Italians v foreigners.
I mean at a minimum a club that purports to be from Italy and play in Serie A should have some vague connection to the place.
But gone are the days where we can even hope to have more than a couple of Italians.
The average seems to be about 2-3 in the starting 11 of each Serie A team. AC Milan currently regularly start with ZERO.
And the discrimination is pretty blatant. Gabbia is yet another example of an Italian/youth player who has to perform at twice the level of his foreign/new signing counterpart, and he still gets dropped.
The discrimination is mostly driven by the transfer market. As I alluded to above, it’s generally new signings that are given the benefit of the doubt over youth players because that feeds the machine that is the modern transfer market.
If Milan signed Italian players they’d probably be given more chances but then Italian players are expensive, so the result is no Italians.
And the transfer market is generally destroying modern football. When the Super Cup plan was being explored, Agnelli defended it by saying that young fans were no longer following football clubs but players.
Is it surprising?
Most fans from my generation were drawn to clubs in part by the players.
I supported Milan because it’s where I am from, and my family did, but the three Dutchmen, Maldini, Baresi and the many other legends, is what ultimately kept me engaged.
I have never stopped watching Milan until the last few months.
I have watched every game I could even during the worst times.
But the dismissal (I am not going to call it a transfer) of Calabria was the last straw. Along with the ongoing mistreatment of Gabbia, there was nothing left.
As I have said many times the whole transfer market is just so misguided. The usual excuse is tight budgets but look at the money we wasted shipping Tonali (and losing Krunic – I don’t include Kessie because he’s a mercenary), and replacing them with new players who were always going to struggle.
They were going to struggle because they were players who had never played in Serie A, never played for top teams, and never played together.
As with most players, we have no idea what their levels are because the conditions are all wrong.
My guess (and it’s a total random guess) is that Reijnders will likely become a star at some top team where he has a proper DM behind him, and he joins a settled team.
But it’s all random guesswork because nobody could succeed at Milan in its current state. It’s not a team. It shows zero loyalty to anyone. The personnel changes constantly.
What’s there to support and play for?
And THAT is what needs to be fixed. Whether it’s with Italians or foreigners or whoever.
Dont worry, they wont go route foreigner again after failure from ibra & moncada with coach foreigner from Portugal this season. Most likely they will go Italian route with DS choice berta, d amico, paratici while coach choice Sarri, allegri or gasperini ( only if he leave Atalanta at the end season). For player their main target are Ricci to balance the midfield
It doesn’t matter unless there’s some kind of long-to-medium-to-even-short-term-beyond-one-season-plan.
Otherwise there’ll be a new team to support the following year.
But it’ll still be called ‘Milan’ .
My son supports Man City. He is actually from Manchester, but if I’m honest he supports them because they were the best team on FIFA when he started playing a few years ago (although now he’s a bit older he says he also knew they were local and that mattered). We went on a stadium tour for his birthday last year and there was a kid there who was probably 12, in a United shirt with Fernandez on the back. The woman hosting the tour made a joke about it and he said he IS a city fan, but loved Fernandez. The thing that really struck me was he seemed genuinely confused that it was weird to her.
Football has changed. You’re right, people follow players more than (or at least as well as) clubs, and the reality is, if you support any big club, you don’t support the club you supported growing up, you support a brand that is using that clubs history to sell stuff. We try to ignore this because red and black is in our blood, but it’s true. This is why I also support my local 6th tier (soon to be 7th tier) club here in England.
This is why I stayed on the fence for so long, because as much as I wanted Calcio to stay Calcio, I could (and still can) see a future where we end up as a satellite club to Leeds or Burnley – at which point I would entirely withdraw my support. So I begrudgingly accepted this “opening up”. Obviously the last two years has been an unmitigated disaster, and now ‘something’ has to change again. I’ve entirely changed my own mind in that time too, and think that actually, if there must be “a brand” then the brand should be that we do things differently in Italy, and hope that peoples love of nostalgia keeps us “relevant”.
Is it possible that everyone got caught up in the story that all Milan’s problems lie in the sports director??? We all know that Braida was the sports director, but that all the transfers and coaches were chosen by Galiani together with Berlusconi. Even from 2012 to 2017. the sports director was a certain Rocco Maiorino. Who has heard of this man 😀
It’s “internationalisation” that got us where we are today. Struggling on all fronts. There’s no sense of belonging either with players or staff. Well renowned experts and legends in world of football are seeing it and talking about this but many here continue to be delusional and deny it.
Look at the teams in front of us on table and tell me what they have in common? Italian coach. And many of their key players are Italian.
Wow.
I’ve just noticed that.
Every single team above Milan are coached by an Italian.
To win you need Italian flavour, it has been proved. But of course the player is not in Calabria level. It’s funny when Milan linked to Allegri and at the same time juve linked to pioli.. For DS, paratici is not good, but so does with igli tare.. In juve,paratici looked good because of marotta. Marotta is the mind master, just look what inter now..
The ONLY coach suite to Milan is Allegri. Allegri has got all the credentials to get AC back on the winning circuit. He is Italian, proven winner in all competitions. Why is this such a hard task for management to sort. The way management operates is going to take another season before they make up their mind. Bottom line is to consider the coach ability and if his salary demand is high then so be it. Management should expect a Lamborghini for the price of a Fiat !!!