According to La Gazzetta dello Sport (seen below), Milan will rely on figures that are more experienced in the dynamics of Serie A, and more accustomed to titles and medals with green white and red ribbons on.
The Supercoppa Italiana is not enough to save the season: the club needs to find certainties, relying on those who know the road to success. Igli Tare traveled it as a director in the fifteen seasons at Lazio, while Vincenzo Italiano has finally discovered it and Max Allegri knows the direction perfectly.
The sportinf director will indicate the route: the negotiations for Tare have reached their destination. They followed a very long path: starting from London, where at the beginning of March the former Lazio sports director had met Ibrahimovic and Cardinale.
In mid-April they passed through Rome, the venue of the meeting between Tare and the AC Milan CEO Furlani. More weeks of reflection and now the final push that will lead the manager to eventually joining Milan.
Tare has preferred the idea of working at Casa Milan to other Arab paths: Al Nassr, Ronaldo and Pioli’s team, would offer him a rich contract, as would another club in the Saudi League. Now all that is awaited is the announcement of the deal: a three-year one.
A contract like this implies the desire to plan a new course together. Milan itself had tried to move in other directions: first towards Fabio Paratici, then looking for Atalanta’s sporting director D’Amico and finally Lee Congerton, former Nerazzurri Atalanta man now at Ah-Ahli.
Now we are at the final stages: agreement done and announcement expected immediately after the end of the season. In a week Milan will have a new structure. Tare was liked for his ability to discover talents, a quality that the American Milan particularly appreciates.
The strategy is the usual one, to buy promising players to develop in the red and black. In Rome Tare worked alongside president Lotito: in the talks with Furlani he claimed his autonomy in decision-making in the technical field, but he remains a manager accustomed to discussion.
As mentioned, he knows the dynamics of Serie A – he was a director at Lazio for fifteen years – he is used to building a Champions League team and, not insignificantly, he has won: three Coppa Italia and as many Supercoppa Italiani with the Biancoceleste.
He will have to fill the gap of recent years, when Milan lacked a sporting director who was a stable point of reference for agents and players. Tare will also be an almost permanent presence at Milanello.
But first the market: he realised what the team needs in person last Wednesday, when he was a spectator at the Olimpico for the Coppa Italia final lost to Bologna.
That was the night in which all of Milan saw up close an emerging coach win his first career title: Vincenzo Italiano, the rossoblù manager, was already among those under special observation to sit on the bench at San Siro.
He lacked a key requirement: before then he had not lifted a trophy. For a week now he can be defined as a winner and, even more so, fully registered in the race for the role of new rossonero coach.
The Coppa was an acceleration that even brought him to pole position. The club has always transmitted a specific identikit, referring to a new ‘Italian’ coach. Without specifying that the clue was not referred to the nationality, but to the surname.
Vincenzo Italiano is liked for his modern style of play and his attacking football. He is an emerging coach, in line with the club’s needs. He certainly has less experience than Massimiliano Allegri, another candidate, who has six league titles, three Super Cups and five Coppa Italia wins on his personal honours board.
Allegri is a guarantee of success that has different costs and playing style. Today Italiano’s ambition is ahead of Max’s experience, already a Milan head coach from 2010 to January 2014, before his two spells at Juventus. The choice of coach will take a few more days, but the future has begun.
