GdS: Timing, candidates and risk – five questions on Milan’s director pursuit answered

SempreMilan

·3 May 2025

GdS: Timing, candidates and risk – five questions on Milan’s director pursuit answered

AC Milan’s pursuit of a new sporting director has dragged on into May, and it has left fans with a lot of questions about the process.

As La Gazzetta dello Sport write and as we spoke about in a recent feature, the choice of the next sporting director is a carousel in which everyone, at least for one day, has been favoured and no one is certain of being the chosen one. The report aims to answer some questions.

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When will Milan make a decision on the sporting director?

Milan will almost certainly decide at the end of the season. Serie A ends on May 25, almost a month to go and no, there are no signs of an acceleration by the CEO Giorgio Furlani.

Indeed, the idea from the beginning was to proceed without haste, even if Fabio Paratici was very close to arriving. In fact, there were even reports of more recent talks with the ex Juventus man.

Are Tony D’Amico and Giovanni Manna among the candidates?

Furlani likes D’Amico and Manna, who has spoken with both of them in recent months, as he has spoken with Paratici, Igli Tare and Giovanni Sartori. The key, however, is the fact they are under contract with Atalanta and Napoli.

D’Amico would be the number one candidate but he has a deal with Atalanta until 2027, with an option in favour of the club to extend for another year. Atalanta made it clear they want to keep him. Wll something change at the end of the season? There are no signs at the moment.

As for Manna, the first talks with Milan ended with a clear idea: it is likely that Manna will stay at Napoli. It is clear that, especially for him, the next month will be important: he has the Scudetto to chase with Antonio Conte.

Is Igli Tare the favourite?

On Tuesday 15 April, Tare met with Furlani for four and a half hours. They talked about club management, a possible cohabitation and coaches for next season. Furlani followed up with some further contacts, but never accelerated.

The fact that the decision is postponed until the end of the season indicates that Milan is going in the opposite direction. Among the sporting directors consulted after Paratici, Tare is, together with Sartori, the one with the best CV and the only one who could work immediately.

Milan could have got him at the beginning of the spring but didn’t. So, everything suggests that the club want at most a sporting director ready to lend a hand on the mercato and in managing the locker room, not a sporting director who takes care of everything.

Could Milan keep the current structure?

Yes, it is a more likely hypothesis now than a couple of weeks ago. It is possible especially if Milan wins the Coppa Italia. Milan, since the day of Paolo Maldini’s departure with the consequent resignation of Ricky Massara, have not had an operational sporting director.

Antonio D’Ottavio had that title until December with a different, less central role. Furlani and Geoffrey Moncada have thus managed the club’s market for two years together with the coaches, who are more or less protagonists of the choices.

Moncada is the inspiration – the technical ideas are his – Furlani manages negotiations and choices until the final decision. Zlatan Ibrahimovic? No, Ibrahimovic does not speak to the agents.

He intervenes in special situations. The Swede calls a player or a coach, for example, but he does not deal with the daily life of the mercato.

What is the big risk?

All this waiting poses a big issue. Football teams start to be built between March and April. May is the time for definitive choices, in June the official announcements arrive.

Antonio Conte, Thiago Motta and Paulo Fonseca were announced by Napoli, Juventus and Milan between 5 and 13 June last year. And all the clubs, with the exception of Juventus who could question Giuntoli, have a defined structure at work for next season.

Milan, in short, will have to move on coaches and players already in these weeks, with a new or confirmed structure. Those who stand still now risk paying from August to May.