Gerry Cardinale is disappointed with the way AC Milan’s season has gone, and even his right-hand man Zlatan Ibrahimovic has ended up under scrutiny.
La Gazzetta dello Sport begin a report by recalling what Ibrahimovic said on the eve of the Champions League play-off tie against Feyenoord regarding the owner: “Cardinale gives you space to be yourself, in exchange he wants results.”
The results: Milan eighth in the league and out of the European places. Eliminated by the Dutch side in the Champions League. Beaten by Bologna in a boring Coppa Italia final. Winner of the Supercoppa Italiana. Milan’s sporting season, as CEO Giorgio Furlani, has been a failure.
Everyone is responsible, especially those who deal with technical choices and the mercato. Even the technical director Geoffrey Moncada, who follows the online lessons of Unisalento to get in order with the license of sporting director, and the super consultant Ibrahimovic.
The results have been discussed. The choices that influenced them were the preference given in the summer to Paulo Fonseca, the first coach of the season and sacked at the end of December. Then the change of direction to Sergio Conceiçao, admired for the intensity his Porto team played with.
The transfer market will also be analysed, in which the €28.5m (plus bonuses) spent on Santiago Gimenez stand out. Then Joao Felix on loan from Chelsea and Kyle Walker from Manchester City, plus Warren Bondo from relegated Monza.
The winter was a period of particular exposure especially for Zlatan, at the official presentations with Santi (“a killer in the penalty area”) then with Felix (“a magical player”). Gimenez ended the season as a reserve, Felix’s impact has been non-existent.
If Moncada can claim the purchases of Reijnders and Pulisic, the top scorers of the season, Zlatan does not have many choices to defend. Cardinale, who was in Qatar for business while the Coppa final was being played, had crowned him last February.
“Having Ibrahimovic allows me to be in Milan even from the US, he is my ‘substitute’ in the city. He has the authority to be my voice when speaking to staff and players, he has a credibility that no one else would have had. He speaks for me,” he said.
It is authority that Zlatan actually had as a player but which is less obvious as a director. Still on the subject of Gimenez: in a video of the ceremony at the Quirinal Palace you can see Zlatan holding out his hand to shake it, but Santi reciprocates with a quick high five and leaves.
With Theo and Rafa, his former locker room mates, things didn’t go any better: they spent a season without particular worries, with few ruptures and many more slow-paced games. Ibra’s convincing efforts were not felt.
Ibrahimovic has been a Senior Advisor to the ownership and Senior Management of Milan since December 2023. A role that includes working ‘with RedBird’s global investment team to support the company’s investment portfolio in the sports, media and entertainment sectors’.
Cardinale would have happily exploited Ibra’s global following as a testimonial, but today you only need to scroll through the social comments under Zlatan’s advertising campaigns to understand the sentiment of the fans.
Ibra is no longer far from criticism, on the contrary. Even outside of football, the former champion’s contribution has been modest. But the real disappointment comes on the pitch, where the Swede has not been able to have an impact like he did in the past as a centre forward.
On the contrary, there are a series of missed targets and wrong movements that have ended up influencing, this time negatively, Milan’s season. It is inevitable that Cardinale is disappointed and that the club’s sporting area is failed.
The news is that this time Ibra might have his role reviewed. Maldini and Massara paid with their jobs, this time the opposite will happen: no firings, but a new sporting director will arrive to fix things.
