AC Milan are having another good run of form under head coach Stefano Pioli and yet his future at the club remains one of the biggest talking points.
As this morning’s edition of La Repubblica (via PianetaMilan) writes, Pioli’s Milan are in a good moment but – as has already happened in the past – it could be Zlatan Ibrahimovic who decides their fate.
Once upon a time this happened on the field but now the Swede could make the difference in his position as ‘Senior Advisor’ to RedBird Capital and Gerry Cardinale for the Rossoneri.
Except for the 4-2 defeat at Monza in February, Milan have been flying in the last period. Pioli’s team overtook Juventus into second place in the league table and reached the quarter-finals of the Europa League.
There seemed to be an almost certain change of coach at Milan but the recent results in this new year have given Pioli a higher chance of staying and at least seeing out his contract with the Rossoneri, which runs until 30 June 2025.
However, it appears increasingly clear that his reconfirmation – as well as the future of Theo Hernández , Mike Maignan and Rafael Leão – is linked to two factors.
On the one hand, the decisions of the sporting plenipotentiary Ibrahimovic regarding how the future of Milan should look, and on the other the outcome of the Italian derby in the Europa League against Roma.
In short, Pioli will have to convince Ibrahimovic and the entire management to keep him, which would require a winning end to the season, one that will also be decisive when it comes to keeping star players.
In the event that Olivier Giroud does not renew his contract and goes to play in the MLS, Ibra’s first task would be to find a new striker in the summer window and the money from a big sale could finance an ambitious mercato, just like last summer with Sandro Tonali.
