News that AC Milan want to hire a new sporting director soon is not surprising. After all, this has been suggested heavily recently.
In the past few days, maybe due to the international break, the talk surrounding Milan has largely revolved around the hiring of a new sporting director/Head of Football. Gerry Cardinale is reportedly keen to make a decision within the next few months, but it could be sooner.
Read SempreMilan ad-free and get access to exclusive news. Click here for a free trial!
There are plenty of names swirling and it’s difficult to call who will get the job, with Matteo Moretto hinting that it won’t be the fans’ favourite for the role…
Pellegatti’s bold call
According to Carlo Pellegatti – who spoke on his YouTube channel, via MilanNews – the new figure will not be Markus Krösche, with someone else already in place…
“The question that seems most relevant today concerns the person who should be appointed as head of football. If I can speculate – not on names, but by already telling you that Krösche and Boto, the Flamengo sporting director mentioned earlier, are out of the question.
“One hypothesis I feel I can support is that, before the return to the pitch for the match in Reggio Emilia against Sassuolo, this figure should be in place. I really believe we’re there and that there won’t be much time left.
“Cardinale is used to speaking at length with the people he chooses and wants to be completely convinced. We’ll see if this role is identified, as I believe it will be, before the season resumes. It would be important, because it would mean someone who still needs to settle in and get their bearings.
“On the other hand, if it wasn’t decided to bring him in earlier, we have to start somewhere; such a traumatic start, and these pressures could even prove useful to the new arrival. I think we’ll have this new role by October 10th.
“There are no hot names at the moment; we’ll see if anyone emerges in the coming days.
It will be interesting to see who the mysterious figure is and when they’ll be appointed. If Pellegatti is right, they’ll be in place ahead of the game against Sassuolo on October 11.
Sheva turns 50: “To become an important player for AC Milan, everyone knows you have to win the Champions League. I wanted to write my name in football history.”
September 29, 2026, 6:00 PM
by Manuel Del Vecchio
Shevchenko talks about his career, football, and AC Milan in an interview marking his 50th birthday.
Today marks the 50th birthday of Andriy Shevchenko, one of the strongest and most beloved players of AC Milan’s recent history. While at AC Milan, he won a Champions League, a Scudetto, a European Super Cup, an Italian Cup, and an Italian Super Cup, as well as the 2004 Ballon d’Or . The Ukrainian striker gave a lengthy interview to Sky Sport: “From the beginning of my career, especially when I signed for AC Milan, I understood the importance of the club I played for. My goal was to leave something of my own in the history of this club and write a small page in the history of football.”
The beginnings:
As a child, I always dreamed of being a footballer. Even before playing in Dynamo’s youth academy, I was a huge fan of the team. Lobanovsky changed my career in Kiev. From the very beginning, as soon as he became Dynamo Kiev’s coach, he wanted to talk to the players. He arranged to meet me in his office, and we chatted for an hour. He was very specific about what he expected of me. He was a bit rigid when he talked about certain things, but he gave me direction.
What did he give you?
“Discipline and organization. He had incredible discipline; it was truly a work ethic. When you have this kind of organization, you get used to being punctual, precise, paying attention to details, and having a certain attitude toward yourself, in training and in life. It’s not that I didn’t have fun, I still had fun, but when it came to work, my attitude immediately changed: it became the most important thing.”
On Milan:
“Especially at the beginning of my career, when I signed for AC Milan and came to Italy, I understood the importance of this club. My bond with AC Milan is very strong. I think every player who has played for AC Milan has a special bond, which goes beyond just being a former player. Anyone who played here was used to always winning, you always won. It’s a special club, but above all, it has fans who give something more. San Siro, the pressure, the crowd, the fans… They make this club very special.”
What made this club so special?
“First of all, it had so many champions and so many good people. So many intelligent people. When you have a group of people who are hungry to win, people with great talent, intelligent people… You quickly build a group, with a true bond between friends and teammates. The training sessions were competitive and difficult, and there was a great desire to compete in that group. That was beautiful. Every training session almost felt like a battle.”
On Ancelotti:
“It was easy to coach that Milan (laughs, ed.). I don’t want to take away Carlo’s credit, but he said it himself. He thought it was great to work with us. There were 20 players from a great team. You could have made two teams and played in a final.”
Its strength:
“A very important moment for me, when things weren’t going well and I needed to find the strength… I managed to turn things around and win. When things are flat, when everything is going well, you can’t appreciate everything. I appreciate it much more when you manage to get back up and win something again.”
The coaches he remembers with pleasure:
“When I arrived in Italy, my first coach was Zaccheroni. He helped me a lot to integrate into Italian football and changed my way of thinking. I definitely won a lot under Carlo Ancelotti; I have a lot of respect and admiration for him. I also worked a bit with Mourinho; he also has things to learn from. He’s won a lot; I liked his way of working. They’re all together… I’ve had great experiences working together.”
His goals as a footballer:
“I always enjoyed rewatching matches… To improve myself, I would always rewatch the matches two or three times. My goal was to become important to this club and leave something in its history. That was my goal, not just to play, win, and have fun. I wanted to leave something in football, to write a little page about myself in football history. To become an important player in AC Milan’s history, everyone knows you have to win the Champions League.”
The importance of football in his life:
“People mostly remember the good times, the important matches, the goals in the finals we played, the things we won. I think I’ve always tried to give my all in football throughout my life. I want people to remember that about me. I’ve also had difficult times, but… It wasn’t just a job, it was so much more.”
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DEAR ANDRIY, HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!!!