There is a new name in the frame when it comes to AC Milan’s pursuit of a sporting director: ex-Atalanta man Lee Congerton.
This morning’s edition of La Gazzetta dello Sport actually went one further by stating that Congerton is the man in pole to take over the vacant role at Milan, and that things are moving towards completion after no reports prior to today.
Who exactly is the former Atalanta, Chelsea, Leicester City and Hamburg executive? Football Italia have taken a look at the most impressive deals the Welshman has pulled off in his career to date.
Congerton’s career to date
Congerton has had various coaching, scouting and directorship roles from his 25-year career after being a player. He was a youth team director for Wrexham and then became a coach under Gerard Houllier back in 2002.
He spent six years with Chelsea, under Jose Mourinho as head coach and Frank Arnesen as sporting director, and then went with Arnesen to Hamburger SV in the Bundesliga. He worked at Sunderland, Celtic and Leicester City as a sporting director, before heading to Atalanta in 2022.
With a background in scouting before becoming a sporting director, Congerton has discovered some top talents. He is credited with bringing Hakan Calhanoglu to Hamburg from Karlsruher who were in the third division, and he is now a star at Inter.
The other signings that he made at HSV include Rafael Van der Vaart from Tottenham, while Jonathan Tah and Christian Norgaard were among the youth players promoted to the first-team during Congerton’s spell as technical director.
While with Leicester, the team finished fifth under his watch. His most notable signings there include the €45m arrival of Youri Tielemans from AS Monaco as well as Wesley Fofana, who joined for around €35m and was later sold to Chelsea for a staggering €80m.
Congerton was working as chief scout at Celtic when they signed Odsonne Edouard for a €10m fee, who would go on to be a prolific scorer as they racked up many trophies. He then headed to Crystal Palace for a €16m fee. Congerton also signed Tim Weah on loan for the Glasgow side from PSG.
At Atalanta he had a big role in signing Ademola Lookman who he knew from his time at Leicester City. Ederson and Rasmus Hojlund also joined under his watch, the latter of whom generated over €50m in profit for La Dea after his move to Manchester United.
While with Chelsea, Congerton was ‘largely tasked with identifying young players’ that were ready for the first team. The likes of Ryan Bertrand, Daniel Sturridge and Fabio Borini were among those to make the jump during his time.
