The slogan, if you’re interested, is simple: United States of Milan.
Giorgio Furlani traveled to the United States yesterday, where today he will meet with Gerry Cardinale. It seems like the club’s general assembly: the owner and the CEO coming together to discuss the team and its future.
Milan is struggling as rarely before in its recent history and faces difficult months ahead, with domestic rivals having pulled ahead. Inter, Napoli, Atalanta, and Juve hold a double-digit lead, and Milan is losing matches, confidence, and market value. This early March meeting has all the makings of a crucial turning point, the zero hour in planning the new Milan.
An owner and a CEO don’t disclose the agenda of their meeting, but some topics are inevitably on the table. The choice of the sporting director is a major issue, the main change for Milan in 2025-26. Milan has opted to rely on a traditional sporting director, a shift from the management approach of the past two years. Gerry Cardinale and Zlatan Ibrahimovic, his right-hand man and trusted figure, have held discussions with Igli Tare, Fabio Paratici, and Andrea Berta. Furlani, the key executive in negotiations over the past few years, did not take part.
Tare is the favorite, but Paratici could soon return to the scene because this book still has pages to be written—the decision hasn’t been made, and Milan’s internal balance is still settling. As CEO, Furlani is the executive with signing power and has always been involved in every decision.
Cardinale and Furlani will inevitably discuss how to handle this crisis, with Milan set to close the season’s financial statement “with a small profit or a small loss, in the absence of major sales,” as CFO Cocirio stated in October. And speaking of finances, the now virtually certain failure to qualify for the Champions League is a key topic, as is the stadium. Milan, alongside Inter, is making significant decisions and aims to own the land of the old San Siro and (if it ever happens) the new San Siro by the end of the summer—the first real point of no return in a never-ending saga, which began when Furlani was a portfolio manager at Elliott and Cardinale had not yet founded RedBird.
The rest will be dealt with—at a relatively measured pace—because Milan must change a lot. It will have a new coach, replace many players, and reshape the locker room hierarchy. Theo Hernandez and Rafa Leao, historically its strongest players, could leave. Mike Maignan, another cornerstone of the Scudetto, essentially has an agreement for a demanding contract renewal. The club will have to choose new leaders and face a decline in international prestige that Cardinale cannot be pleased with. Routine management, already out of fashion at the club, won’t be enough, and the decisions will inevitably be bold and risky.
That’s why, even though Central Park in March is a spectacle, Furlani won’t be in New York on vacation.
