Despite the fact the management has been cleared out at AC Milan, there is still a clash in vision among those who remain.
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According to Corriere dello Sport, Zlatan Ibrahimovic is the man that believes he has the keys to redesign Milan how he sees fit. At the moment, the vision he has in mind is Arne Slot as the head coach and Ramon Planes as the sporting director.
An important name in this picture is Rafaela Pimenta, the super agent and heir to Mino Raiola, who in turn was Ibrahimovic’s longtime agent. Contacts between Pimenta and Ibrahimovic are very close, and it is she who is promoting the path that leads to Planes and Slot.
The other road leads to Ralf Rangnick and consequently to Oliver Glasner as technical director and head coach. The latter will meet the Rossoneri shortly while Jaissle (another disciple of Rangnick) is under contract with Al-Ahli and the compensation requested risks complicating matters further.
‘AC Ibra’
Slot’s stock soared over the past weekend, when his exit from Liverpool became official. The Dutchman is ready to get back into the game with a new professional challenge in a different world of football, Italian football.
Ibrahimovic himself is convinced, ready to make a clean break from Allegri’s tactical management to recruit a coach with an international profile, who rose to prominence with his experience in the Eredivisie and the Premier League.
Pimenta already played an important role three years ago, when Slot was very close to joining Tottenham after Antonio Conte’s departure from Spurs. The course of history then took a different path, leading to him taking over from Jurgen Klopp and winning the league in year one.
Rangnick would arrive as a plenipotentiary at Milan with broader powers, with a coach chosen specifically like Glasner, who he knows from his time in the Red Bull world. The World Cup begins in less than ten days and Rangnick will give a definitive answer to Austria about his plans.
The former Manchester United and RB Leipzig coach will speak with the federation leaders in the coming days. He will do so before embarking for the United States, and the fact that he has to focus (at least initially) on Austria rather than Milan certainly doesn’t play in his favour.
Glasner is certainly the one who is ready to start again immediately, after winning the Conference League with Crystal Palace. It’s no coincidence that there’s particular interest in him, starting with Bayer Leverkusen, who have already come forward to test the waters.