In the past week, Paulo Fonseca has been more vocal than he has ever been about the situation at AC Milan, and the same cannot be said about those around him.
Seven days, two powerful messages. The first, supported by the club, despite attempts to separate themselves from the comments individually, then on Wednesday night a message of frustration. This time, not at the officials, but at the players.
A message is clearly not being received somewhere down the line, and Fonseca has given chances for things to change. It seems that time is up, but there is a lack of support from those around him it seems.
Today, Gazzetta dello Sport writes that Fonseca is putting his ‘face and soul’ into the team, as well as his words. After weeks of the same messages in press conferences, the Portuguese revealed his feelings on air, in an attempt for his words to have meaning, seeing as they aren’t behind closed doors.
From this point, there is no going back, and whilst there has been speculation about wavering levels of commitment, the publication of these feelings now sends a message clear and obvious. Play better, or don’t play. In Fonseca’s eyes, it is simple, and the Milan world may be torn.
The most obvious case of this is Theo Hernandez, and the report suggests that his mind is away from the Rossoneri, and perhaps, it has been for some time after his words in the summer.
However, there is a more problematic case. The words, or lack thereof, of support from his ‘superiors’. Since his message of frustration, Fonseca has spoken to Zlatan Ibrahimovic, but there has not been a public message of support, even if the management ‘agree’ with his outburst.
Does this matter, though? In the grand scheme, probably not, with the report stating that this is Fonseca’s team, no one else’s. For this reason, he will not mind if there are no other words, his should be enough, and if they aren’t then the issues with that will be sorted in the way he sees fit.
Did they bring him just to make problems and to have a reason to sell best players?