Protagonists, problems and potential solutions: Milan’s internal power struggle explained | OneFootball

AC Milan are heading towards some big changes in the summer after such a disastrous campaign, but the most crucial ones will impact the management.

Milan currently sit in ninth place in the league and were dumped out of the Champions League by Feyenoord over two legs. It is safe to say that nobody within the hierarchy deems this to be a satisfactory return, and that is why major alterations are expected.

For example, it is now being widely reported that a new sporting director will be added after Antonio D’Ottavio’s exit in December. We went into the merits of the two main candidates in a separate feature, though it is obvious to say that they will have a big say in the rebuild.

However, there is some more worrying news coming out regarding the lack of an aligned and united vision within the management about what Milan’s future should look like. So, wh exactly has clashed and who stands to win?

A power struggle develops

The first to break the news were Footmercato, who stated that the Milan management is ‘more than ever divided into several camps’ and on crucial issues that concern the steering of the ship moving forward.

Whether it is on the future of the head coach Sergio Conceicao, the sporting director to choose or the plan for the future, the source claimed that the CEO Giorgio Furlani and RedBird Capital Senior Advisor Zlatan Ibrahimović are ‘tearing each other apart’.

There is an ‘internal clash between directors’ currently being witnessed within the Rossoneri ranks, with Ibrahimović being ‘questioned more than ever’. For example, Furlani reminded everyone before the Lazio game who is in charge, stating: “All decisions pass through me.”

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The relationship between the Italian and the Swede has been rather ‘tense’ for a few weeks because there have been several disagreements on the plan for the sporting side. This is where Geoffrey Moncada also enters the mix.

Furlani and the majority of the management are pushing for Fabio Paratici because of his experience in demanding environments, while Zlatan has contacted Igli Tare, a close friend of his. Moncada also wants an ally on board, namely ex-Monza director Francois Modesto.

Despite being proclaimed as Gerry Cardinale’s right-hand man, Ibrahimovic has lost a lot of support internally during recent months. One thing his detractors point at is his decision to give another accomplice in Jovan Kirovski a job with Milan Futuro, who are having a dreadful debut campaign.

Referencing the Footmercato report again, some management employees are ‘accusing him of waiting until the fire was complete before fully intervening’, while others believe he ‘takes up too much space for a figure who is not officially employed by AC Milan’.

Showing up at events like Sanremo Festival or Formula 1 Grand Prix has not done anything to ease the concerns that Ibra is simply focused on PR rather than building the best possible Milan. All of the above, meanwhile, means Conceição feels very alone and doesn’t know which director to turn to.

What about Cardinale? The owner is silent while the infighting continues, but Furlani has flown out to the United States for a visit – another sign of the actual hierarchy at play – before the RedBird chief heads over to Italy before the end of the season for a full and comprehensive debrief.

If the above sounds a touch on the dramatic side, Sky journalist Peppe Di Stefano backed up what we have heard during a segment for Sky on Thursday afternoon, painting a very bleak picture.

“Furlani left for the USA, it is said, in the company of two trusted men, probably two lawyers, to reach Gerry Cardinale and try to rebalance Milan and therefore the balance of power within the club, to understand who has and will have more weight in the choices,” he said.

“Ibra and Cardinale have already chosen Tare as the new sporting director, but probably not everyone has the OK yet. It was already understood when, before Lazio, Furlani himself had underlined his centrality within the Milan world, burdens and honours, and speaking in general, reiterating that the last word belongs to him, who is the CEO.

“And here the same old story comes back into fashion: on one side the Cardinale sphere with Ibrahimovic (the American’s sole point of reference for what concerns the sporting part), on the other the Elliott sphere with Furlani, a numbers man who in recent years with careful management has put Milan back on track from a financial point of view.

“I believe that at the moment everything has been put on hold, I’m talking about technical issues such as the choice of the new sporting director, the possible future coach and the summer mercato. First, the balance of power within the Rossoneri club will have to be decided and rebalanced.

“These will therefore be delicate days and weeks. If there are differences, they must be clarified and an internal balance must be found. Because without harmony it will be difficult to build a winning Milan.”

With the biggest summer in years approaching, this is not exactly the kind of strong and stable atmosphere required to properly execute a revolution. As the cooks argue around the broth, everything has boiled over.

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The changes anticipated

None of this will stop the changes actually happening, though, and according to our sources at SempreMilan.it the managerial revolution at Milan will have a loser: Zlatan Ibrahimovic. It would seem that the Swede will suffer the most from the presence of a sporting director.

The former striker entered the management with an undefined role, and now seems destined to have less and less say in the club’s strategic decisions. The internal duel between Furlani and Zlatan on the influence within the club has a clear winner, and it is the Italian CEO.

The decision to keep Furlani at the helm of Milan is not surprising, considering his close relationship with Elliott Management and the positive work on the commercial side. Furthermore, unlike Ibrahimovic, Furlani is under contract with the club, while the Swede has no formal ties.

The presence of the new sporting director will influence the reorganisation too. Moncada is set to return to being head of scouting, while Furlani will maintain a financial oversight role. This means that Ibrahimovic will lose even more weight in market decisions, seeing his influence reduced.

What next for Zlatan Ibrahimovic?

While on the one hand Ibrahimovic could see his decision-making role within the club vanish, on the other it is not excluded that he could remain in the Milan orbit with a more representative function.

The possibility that Zlatan becomes a sort of ambassador is concrete: a reference face to attract new talents, a symbolic figure rather than an operational one. Ibrahimovic could even spend most of his time in the United States and return to Italy only to support Cardinale for the big matches or strategic visits.

It would certainly be a step back for Ibra compared to today, but the experiment of choosing him as the face of the management was an absolute failure, both in terms of the work done on the playing side and also his communication style.

Precisely in this sense, Zlatan could return to playing the role of ‘legend’ to be displayed at Milanello in the most difficult moments, a bit like what he did in the past in Paolo Maldini and Ricky Massara’s Milan.

An Inter-style structure?

The friction between Furlani and Ibrahimovic highlights a broader problem in the management of Milan: the lack of a strong and clearly defined managerial figure in the sporting sphere. A winning club needs shared leadership between management and the technical area, something currently lacking.

Precisely for this reason, RedBird have decided to focus on a sporting director with full decision-making powers, while Furlani will continue to deal with the economic-financial part. It is along the lines of what happens at Inter: Alessandro Antonello as corporate CEO, and Beppe Marotta as sporting CEO.

Zlatan, on the other hand, could have a more marginal but still significant role as the symbolic face of Milan. Whether the ‘lion’ will accept being caged is another thing, given his repeated comments about only returning because he has been assured that he can make a difference.