CEO Giorgio Furlani has decided that he wants Antonio Conte to be the new head coach of AC Milan from next season, a report claims.
According to Quotidiano Sportivo, Conte is the first choice candidate to take over from Sergio Conceicao. Massimiliano Allegri has not been contacted but remains the second choice, while Cesc Fabregas comes after the two Italians.
In the week leading up to the Napoli-Milan game, there could well be a new added sub-plot. To be clear, nothing will be done now and only once the season has concluded can the wheels begin to turn, while trying to overcome the competition from Juventus.
Compared to a year ago, the plans of the Rossoneri. The strong doubts (for character and economic reasons) about Conte, linked to Milan as Stefano Pioli’s replacement, have been put aside after Furlani’s trip to the United States and the clarifying meeting with Gerry Cardinale.
From that face to face the CEO came out more than strengthened, with full decision-making powers also at a sporting level that ended up ‘scaling down’ even Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Senior Advisor to RedBird Capital and the right-hand man to Cardinale.
The last word belongs to Furlani, therefore, and on Monday afternoon he also spoke again with Fabio Paratici for the sporting director role. He enjoys the trust of the controlling shareholder but above all of Elliott Management, for whom he previously sat on the Board of Directors.
It is increasingly clear that Elliott’s influence is considerable, given the vendor loan that must be repaid to the fund by RedBird, worth €489m with a deadline of 2028. “Until the loan is repaid, Elliott will have a significant specific weight on all decisions,” a source who knows the club well told QS.
Elliott and Cardinale therefore rely on the CEO, Furlani has understood that the best name to relaunch the team after a very complicated season is that of Conte, whatever the cost. But the Napoli coach today is focused only on the present and does not want to be distracted by rumours.
He has Milan in his head, but only for the challenge on Sunday evening, and he expects his team to fight for the title all the way. He still has two years of contract, but could ask De Laurentiis to release him after the friction of this season, and Milan want to be ready.
