Zlatan Ibrahimovic was rather predictably asked about why AC Milan did not go for Antonio Conte as their head coach but instead decided to hire Paulo Fonseca.
Tuttosport (via PianetaMilan) have some reflections on Ibrahimovic’s press conference yesterday, which took place in front of 70 journalists at Milanello and in which he officially announced Fonseca as the new manager.
Why him and not Antonio Conte? The Swede’s response was clear and abrupt: “Milan needs a coach, not a manager. We didn’t discuss Conte because with the criteria we had, he wasn’t what we were looking for, his name didn’t come up.”
It must be said that Fonseca arrives amid a mixed reaction, with some believing that his CV and his failure to do anything of note at Roma mean he is not the kind of appointment an ambitious club should make, while others think he can build on the platform in place.
“Putting together all the factors we needed, his profile emerged, the one that best suited our needs. What convinced us about Fonseca was his ambition, his desire to work, to do well. For us he is a top coach, otherwise he wasn’t a Milan profile,” Ibra said.
Ibrahimovic added that Milan ‘are not a podcast or a talk show’, which is why he prefers to work in silence. He said that seeing Inter win the Scudetto energised him, he explained to the fans how the Rossoneri project is one that is built to win.