AC Milan CEO Ivan Gazidis is set to leave his role at the club which he has held for four years when his contract expires next month.
As was confirmed in an official statement from AC Milan on Wednesday afternoon, Gazidis will conclude his time with the club when his contract runs out on December 5, 2022.
He joined the club as CEO in December 2018 and has been at the centre of the improvement made both on and off the pitch during the Elliott Management ownership.
Gazidis is going to remain fully operational in his role at the club until December 5 and there is going to be an announcement by AC Milan about his successor in the near future.
The statement is quick to thank Gazidis for his hard work and service at the club and they wished him all the best for the future.
There were quotes from AC Milan Chairman Paolo Scaroni: “On behalf of everyone associated with AC Milan, I would like to say a heartfelt thank you to Ivan for his passion and dedication, as well as the significant contribution he has made to the health and success of this football Club, representing and enhancing the core values for which it stands.
“As I said during our recent Shareholders Meeting, it is very easy to be the Chairman of an organisation which has a CEO of the quality of Ivan Gazidis.
“I would also like to personally wish him some peaceful and well-deserved time with his family and every success in his next professional chapter.”
Let’s see if the new CEO understands more about the importance of world-class players and not think only about the money.
Is that a serious comment, or are you trolling ?
Milan was on the brink of bankruptcy.
Losses over 200mil a year.
After 4 years, Milan losses are only like 30 million , he has increased the revenue and incoming money into the club thru sponsorship and commercial agreements. Under his leadership, Milan got back fairly quickly into respectability after almost 10 bad years of Berlusconi and 1 all-time worse year under Li Yonghong.
He did all that without the club selling any of their high value players to balance the books.
To buy world-class players, you gotta have the money, and Milan had no money.
Thank you, Gazidis and good luck
i wouldnt bother.. some people just cant tell the difference between fifa manager and real life club.
And some people can’t tell the difference between being serious or sarcasm. 🙂
Looking at our summer signings and how little to no impact they have on the team, especially compared to other teams signings, where they are already protagonists in a big way, I think bb means we should focus on maybe one or two more expensive established players that would be able to make impact right away, instead of bunch of kids that may or may not have any impact in 3 to 7 years.
Same or similar amount of money, less players, more immediate impact instead of potential that may or may not be met in some distant future.
Or maybe I misunderstood him.
When it comes to transfers and signings, the owners and the CEO just set the budget available for that. It’s on the Sporting director to use that available budget to fill the need of the squad.
This year signings were bunch of young players, but last years Mercato was almost all experienced veterans.
If fans don’t like the signings, they should point the finger at Maldini, not at Gazidis
I’m sure we missed out on Botman because of M&M.
Well, Botman and CDK basically cost the same amount. Who made the choice to drop Botman and pursue CDK?
Who made the decision to wait on Renato Sanches instead of signing Enzo Fernandez? Enzo was cheaper BTW, both in transfer fee and especially in salary.
i checked other teams and players that arrived this summer in italy. Ony 3 of them had an impact and that is Dybala in Roma and in Napoli Kim, Khvicha and Anguissa. Neither of those 4 is a world class player and all were cheap. I’d also add that dybala gets around 7M a year there, which is a no, no nukber for Milan
No misunderstanding. 🙂 You cannot only buy future stars – especially when a couple of the main pillars are already one step away from their retirement.
Right. They just let their high value players leave for free. Donnarumma, Calhanoglu, Kessie.
They?
No, not they, but Maldini. Those players not being sold a year or 2 earlier falls on the Sporting director. Purchases and sales are his domain.
It’s not like Elliott and Gazidis told Maldini, “Don’t sell those players , let them walk for free. We don’t need that €100-130 million from their sales.”
But if we look it at objectively, it was THEY who appointed Maldini, so I guess we can blame owners and Gazidis.
Even though they did first go with Leonardo, who left after 1 year for PSG.
Then they put in Boban, who left after 6 months, because he found out that they wanted to replace both him and Maldini with Ragnick.
And then they even tried to steal Igli Tare from Lazio, but he said Nah.
So, in the end, they went with Massara to babysit Maldini
Every time someone comes crying about letting players leave for free, it’s hard not to question if these people have rationally functional faculties. Many players leave for free – for whatever reasons.
Pogba left Man United for free. Donna and Hakan were just terrible ungrateful people who have no scruples. Kessie refused to move to Tottenham in January. In those situations, what can the club do?
If Leão decides he doesn’t want to leave in January, what can the club do? Nothing. Situation has changed and it favours the players more now, especially when they have greedy agents.
“Is that a serious comment, or are you trolling ?”
Tongue in cheek comment but with a hint of truth too. Gazidis did well but let’s not forget that he did block Zlatan’s return a year before it happened because he didn’t want star players brought in.
I was sceptic and didn’t want Gazidis to join but I was wrong. I can honestly admit that. I’m glad I was wrong about him.
How you can buy world class players when the club:
1. Doesn’t have their own stadium that can generate more than 100 millions euros /year.
2. Still loses millions of euros /year.
3. UEFA is still closely watching Milan financial and ready to punish with a ban from EU competition once they see Milan in the red.
Forget your fkin video games because this is REAL LIFE.
I will ever remain thankful and proud of the work Ivan Gazidis did for Milan. I do not want to imagine how challenging it would have been in balancing the books, seeking investment for an almost failed giant, and seeking success on the pitch. Only a few would have succeeded here. Thanks Ivan once again and I hope you are free from the throat cancer. True Milanista love and respect you for your time with us.
What you do is you don’t let a player go into the final year of his contract without a new deal. You make him the best offer you can make them, and if they don’t take it then you sell them. Once the player is in the final year, they have all the power. It’s bad business.
You’re forgetting that the player himself must be worth the $ compared to alternatives. Dunnarumma is lower quality than Maignon and so wasn’t worth the $, Calagnahu doesn’t have the right attitude and isn’t that good and so wasnt worth the $, and Kessie – though amazing- is not needed with Bennecer, Tonali, Pobega etc and so he wasn’t worth the $.
It can be argued if the player isn’t worth the $ then sell him to make some $ back. However the team still needs to accomplish its goals. Kessie, for example, could have brought in some $ if he was sold however Milan may not have won Serie A last year. It was worth it to keep Kessie around and let him leave.
I think Gazidis handled all of these players perfectly.
Kessie not needed because of Tonali and Pobega!Haha. This has to be a joke comment. Have you watched the team this season? He is needed.
Calhanoglu might be a jerk but he’s miles better than anyone Milan has tried to plug in there since.
“What you do is you don’t let a player go into the final year of his contract without a new deal. You make him the best offer you can make them, and if they don’t take it then you sell them.”
Harsh but true.
I was one of the skeptical one following his appointment as CEO. However, he played his part in getting us out of financial troubles and it was under his tenure also that we won Scudetto.
Sure he has his controversies and I don’t always side with him, but such is life.
Thank you and hopefully he recovers well.
Now that’s how I feel as well. I had my doubts (big ones) but he did well.
Ivan Gazidis accomplished the impossible: He created an environment where the fans actually love the management and front office and hope they stay for as long as possible.
I have never seen anything like this before and it’s really heartwarming to watch.
Gazidis did an excellent job. Thank you and good luck. I hope the new owner will not throw away money on players before players are at least 80% scouted as optimal for Ac Milan. I think this season Milan will gain at least (or almost) 350 million € in revenue, which will be enough for some new exciting investments. Also, they show an excellent point in not allowing some players more salary like Romagnoli, Kessie, and Donnarumma. Without them, Milan reaches the knockout stage and still is competitive in Serie A. Thiaw is a better solution than Alessio, Maignan better than Gigio, and next year I hope they will find a much more exciting replacement for Kessie – cheaper too.
I can’t think of many CEOs who have had a more impressive four years at a football club than Gazidis. From a team failing on and off the pitch to one looking up in both directions, he could and should look back with pride. We can only hope the next one is as good IMO.
Even if he sometimes was disliked and scapegoated by some fans of the club id say that he has done a pretty marvelous job for us improving our finances.
Hope he is still at good health and can only wish him all the best in whatever he might do.
The amount of disrespectful towards Gazidis is just disgusting.
Some people in here doesn’t even have any experience on running a big football club like Milan. But they think they know more than Gazidiz how to do the job.
Milan is better without toxic and clueless fans who keeps crying about buying world class player this and stuck in Berlusconi era.
LOL they didn’t know even Madrid and PSG already realize that sign every world class player didn’t bring success. Even PSG has been moved on to seek on the balance rather than pleased the fans with high profile name player
Thank you Ivan. I know some fans hate you so much because your conflict with Boban, your stance for joining Super League that cost penalty for Milan, or your ridiculous salary cap and transfer cap that prevent Milan to sign quality player or even keep their best player. But we know you do your best to strengthen Milan’s financial. Not many people understand how importance is cutting deficit or raising revenue. Despite all of your controversy, deeply i appreciated what you been done for Milan. Hope you keep healthy and enjoy your life
I actually was expecting this news to come earlier than it did. Gazidis has done a wonderful job but we’ve come into a new cycle with RedBird and I always felt that a new perspective would be needed at the CEO level. Gazidis is remarkable at creating strong foundations that you can build upon, as seen in his previous work in the U.S and even Arsenal. So naturally I was eager to see what he could bring to Milan to help stabilize our club and he didn’t just deliver but he surpassed all my expectations. There were some hiccups along the way, like the issues with Zlatan, Boban and Ragnick but in the end everything was dealt with a degree respectability and professionalism. However, I don’t think that his prudent approach to the financial management of an institution is what we need moving forward, but it must represent a guideline for his future successor. He has laid the groundwork for much more success.
Thank you Gazidis for helping to make us stronger and ready to fight.