After appointing a sporting director, with Fabio Paratici clearly ahead in the race, AC Milan will soon have to choose the coach for next season.
Sergio Conceiçao’s adventure, even if he were to win the Coppa Italia, is coming to an end. The guideline for his successor is already set: after two Portuguese coaches, Milan should go back to ‘speaking Italian’.
As La Gazzetta dello Sport report, and as has been reported by other sources, Paratici’s arrival would see Milan launch a homegrown-led project, based around a director, a coach and players who know the league well.
The favourite
It is clear that the opinion of the new director will be fundamental in the choice of coach. In recent days, Paratici met Edoardo Crnjar – Roberto De Zerbi’s agent – at Palazzo Parigi, in the centre of Milan.
De Zerbi is the favourite name among the emerging coaches with whom to build a long-term project. There are two reasons: he has a style of play line with the history of Milan, and in football terms he was formed on the fields of Milanello (as a player he came through the academy).
The three adventures abroad (Shakhtar Donetsk, Brighton and Marseille, where he is now) have then increased Roberto’s international pedigree, who now might want to test himself again in Serie A, finally at the helm of a big team.
It remains to be seen if there is the possibility to snatch him from Marseille, the club with which he signed a three-year contract last summer and with whom he is in the running for a place in the next Champions League.
The winners
Milan, however, could also decide to focus on a ‘guarantee’ coach. Translated into simple words: a coach who is already used to leading a big team and with whom they can aim to win right away, even without laying the foundations for a long-lasting project.
Naturally, it is first of all natural to think of two profiles with whom Paratici worked at Juventus: Antonio Conte and Massimiliano Allegri. The first is currently fighting for the Scudetto at Napoli, the second is instead free, after the end of his second spell in black and white.
On paper, Max is the easiest to reach, because he is not tied to other clubs. He already knows the Milan environment, with whom he won a Scudetto and a Supercoppa Italiana during his three and a half years. And today he is very keen to return to coaching, after a season of being unemployed.
Also without a job are two other coaches who have already won the Scudetto, Maurizio Sarri and Roberto Mancini, currently further down the list but still worth keeping an eye on. On Conte, however, there are more unknowns. Will he leave Napoli? Might he prefer Juventus?
The preference for an Italian is there, but there’s an exception: a world-class coach like Pep Guardiola. And why not Pep, with whom Paratici has an excellent relationship? For now we’re still at the rumour stage, but never say never.
