AC Milan are closing in on hiring Fabio Paratici as their new sporting director, and he agrees with the management on one key thing: an Italian head coach is needed.
While the 2024-25 season is still a couple of months away from finishing, Milan are getting their pieces in place for the next campaign. La Gazzetta dello Sport (seen below) confirm that Paratici is likely to become the new director, even if there are some clauses to be clarified.
With that will come a change in direction: Milan will no longer rely on ‘European’ gambles and instead will try to rebuild an Italian base. This is something that begins with the coach, and there are three names on the table.
The Italian job
The first is Antonio Conte, perhaps the candidate who would require the most upheaval in terms of the playing squad as he has built many of his successes with a three-man defence, even if at Napoli he is having a great season with a 4-3-3.
Translation: he is very good at getting the best out of the material that is given to him, and Conte is someone Paratici knows very well from his days both at Juventus and at Spurs, so them reuniting cannot be ruled out.
Roberto De Zerbi is the second name, who is currently at Marseille. This Milan squad certainly wasn’t built directly around his football principles but he has used four-man and three-man defences during his previous jobs at Sassuolo, Brighton and now in France.
With De Zerbi there is a profile that knows Italian football well and is certainly an up-and-coming coach. Moreover, he also knows Milan well having spent time in the youth sector, yet there is also an element of risk because he hasn’t yet experienced pressures like the Rossoneri job brings.
Then, there is the potential return of Massimiliano Allegri, who would perhaps require the least overhaul when looking at the current squad. He too has shown a willingness to use both a three-man and a four-man defence, with the rearguard being the platform to build from.
Allegri is certainly more Conte-like given his vast experience in demanding environments – including Milan – yet he left Juve under a cloud towards the end of last season and there have been criticisms of his at time ultra-defensive style.
How many of these articles do we have to read before we know the name? I mean, we’ve read about the three candidates mentioned for months now and it’s a long way till June…
Can we talk about the guardiola rumours? They weird
Don’t know why this story is being taken seriously?
It’ll be who is the cheapest and obedient with management so I’m guessing AllegrI and more than likely a done deal already.
All in all SHAMEFUL how our current coach is being treated a good example of a scapegoat if I ever saw one.
#GET ELLIOT / REDBIRD OUT.
Italiano?
You think he’s ready for a top club?
He needs another year at Bologna to see if he can sustain these results. A lot of what Bologna are doing (especially defensively) was built on Mota. I think his effect will eventually wear out and we’ll see what Italiano is made of.
everyone please… relax. did everyone forget last year? Same thing, linked with many coaches. Remember we were linked from Klopp to Motta to De Zerbi to Abate and everything in between. We ended up with Lopetegui and after protest with Fonseca. We can be linked with Conte, Guardiola and the return on lord Jesus but at the end of the day, they will pick some middle/lower tier coach. We are getting too worked up about it.
It has to be an Italian. I have been a Rossoneri fan since for decades, I do not recall a period where a foreign coach prospered. Oscar Tabrez, Fatih Terim, Leonardo, Clearence Seedorf, and two Portuguese coaches we tried this season all have failed. The only one who was successful was Nils Liedholm but that was before the Berulusconi era ( before 1985 ).
The pressure and the demand of Milan job needs an Italian. I know Milan has more fans outside of Italy ( me being one of them ), the fact of the matter is we need an Italian. Guardiola won’t fix anything and he needs unlimited money which this owner is not willing to spend.
Among these three my personal preference would be Conte if he leaves. I do not want Allegri given his ignominious end of 2012-2013 season with us. I think we will get De Zerbi.