Football often throws up storylines that are almost too good to be true. In amidst all the chaos of AC Milan’s Mayday May, one such instance has arrived.
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Just five days ago, Milan were about to kick off their final game of the Serie A season, hoping to beat Cagliari and secure a spot in the 2026-27 edition of the Champions League. It was the minimum objective, and it was in hand.
Fast-forwarding even 24 hours from that point, and the red and black world had been turned upside down. They lost that game 2-1, which meant dropping from third to fifth in the final 90 minutes of the campaign, with the Europa League a consolation prize.
What followed was a managerial cull of epic proportions. Out went the head coach Massimiliano Allegri, the sporting director Igli Tare, the technical director Geoffrey Moncada and the CEO Giorgio Furlani. Justice served, some might say, after another sporting failure.
That is merely the first step though. Now, the management side must be rebuilt almost from scratch, with a process led by Gerry Cardinale and his right-hand men Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Massimo Calvelli. What would be great is if they could get one man to oversee everything, right?
Build-It Ralf
Step forward, Ralf Rangnick. His name may be familiar to many of you for reasons that we will revisit later on, but for now we know a few key facts regarding the resurfacing of his candidacy.
Firstly, several reliable sources are stating that Milan have held discussions with Rangnick over a role as a director at the club, and there seems to be an opening. Secondly, he currently has a job: he is the Austrian national team coach, and they soon leave for the World Cup in North America.
Thirdly and perhaps most importantly, a list of demands has already emerged from the talks that have taken place. From this, it has become apparent that the former RB Leipzig man does not want to do things half-heartedly.
According to Sky, he has laid out five conditions. One of them is not too outlandish: as the technical director, he wants to be the one that will choose the new head coach to replace Allegri, thus aiding the implementation of his vision.
In addition to that, Rangnick has asked to select the sporting director that he will work alongside on the recruitment and squad construction front. Again, this is not a particularly unusual request, given technical director is equivalent to a Director of Football role which involves over-arching control.
Rangnick’s demands include control over the scouting area and staff, which seems reasonable too. It extends to the youth sector too, for whom he wants to select the co-ordinators and coaches for the teams from Milan Futuro down.
So, this would be very much a 360° role for the former Manchester United man. He is not interested in coming in and doing things by half measures, because there is no point in compromising on such a fixed philosophy. It is known as ‘carte blanche’, or ‘a blank card’.
Four coaches and seven years ago
Some of you may be asking the obvious question: why does one man want to take on all of this responsibility? It may well go beyond an intention to ensure that every component of the project is done to his standards.
Matteo Moretto reported earlier on Friday that relations between Rangnick and Ibrahimovic are not the best. Not only could this slow down negotiations, but it is almost certain to have a bearing on what the German wants, i.e. making sure that the Swede is not interfering in any way.
The reason that we mentioned how the Rangnick-Milan links are not new is because what happened over half a decade ago may well have sowed the seeds for the stand-off we are witnessing right now.
As a reminder, it was during the 2019-20 season that Milan seemed set to part ways with Stefano Pioli and bring in Rangnick in an all-encompassing role. CEO Ivan Gazidis had pushed for it, seeing him as a visionary who would be the coach and handle the recruitment, plus other components of the club.
In the end, Pioli’s side picked up form at such a rapid pace that the Rossoneri pulled the plug on things altogether. However, Ibrahimovic had made his thoughts known in an interview with Sportweek in July 2020.
“We’ll also see what’s happening with the club. If this is the situation, to be honest, it’s unlikely you’ll see me at Milan next season. Ibra is not a player for the Europa League and Milan are not a club who belong in the Europa League. Who is Rangnick? I don’t even know who he is.”
Parla #Ibra a #Sportweek: “ho avuto un faccia a faccia con #Gazidis necessario. #Rangnick? Non so chi sia. Se le cose stanno così difficile che rimanga. Non sono un giocatore da #EuropaLeague e il #Milan non è un club da #EuropaLeague”
Boom..
— Pietro Balzano Prota (@PBPcalcio) July 9, 2020
Who is Ralf Rangnick? The answer, Zlatan, is that he is the man that you are trying to convince to take on the responsibility of rebuilding the club you represent, six years after you downplayed his body of work within football.
In an ideal world we could presume the best, i.e. that these are professional people and that it will all be water under the bridge, with such an opportunity still appealing to Rangnick regardless of flippant previous statements.
However, we are dealing with human beings here, and it is impossible that the Austria boss will have forgotten what was said six years ago. Now, as Ibra goes crawling back asking to rebuild something from the ruins he ‘helped’ create’, all of the chips are stacked on his side of the table.
Thus, Ralf Rangnick will rightly as for what he wants. Next time, Ibrahimovic might just think a little bit more carefully about dismissing someone within football that he might have to call upon for a favour down the line, though that would require foresight that he hasn’t shown so far.
