One of the names that continues to be linked with the vacant AC Milan sporting director job is Tony D’Amico, and his track record shows why.
La Gazzetta dello Sport talk about the ‘D’Amico model’, one that is working well for Atalanta. Observing and evaluating everything from the outside are Milan, in search of a director for next season, and he ticks a lot of boxes.
He is an Italian, who knows the ins and outs of Italian football and who fits into the pre-existing internal dynamics of a club. The Rossoneri have not yet decided who they wanted, by D’Amico has registered an increase in popularity recently.
When asked about the links before Atalanta’s defeat to Lazio at the weekend he gave little away. What kind of sporting director is Tony D’Amico? What is his methodology?
The factors in favour
D’Amico, who has been in Bergamo since the summer of 2022, is a man of synergy. Indeed, this is above all his main characteristic. A quality that is particularly appreciated at the top levels of RedBird. In essence, his is job carried out as part of a team and within guidelines.
For him, therefore, it is better to operate behind the scenes than as a frontman, managing the balance between coach and management, as well as those within the dressing room. In other words, D’Amico has historically always been an excellent support for the coaches who have worked with him.
This includes Gian Piero Gasperini, even if the turbulence in Bergamo this year is particularly uncomfortable. Milan also like him because the Nerazzurri’s sporting director has a clinical eye for monitoring players that are under the radar, as shown at Bologna and Verona before.
This is a quality that is particularly appreciated in a club that, given the numbers (especially without the Champions League heading into next season), cannot afford €60-70m signings and must pay attention to what they spend.
Another factor that plays in his favour is, especially in the last year, a greater sensitivity shown towards the Italian market, an aspect that the Rossoneri have made it clear it wants to pursue after a very long list of foreign purchases.
D’Amico, at a club like Atalanta where the Percassi family are very active in all areas, is appreciated for his ability to be concave and convex. A real glue between the different sectors.
Learning his trade
His characteristics mean that he is not a one-man show and that makes it difficult to pick out signings that are ‘his’, but some are obviously more than others. For example, Sead Kolasinac – who arrived in the summer of 2023 from Marseille – had other suitors but kept his word to D’Amico.
Then there is also Isak Hien, signed in January last year from Verona, a club he knows well. For La Dea, the Swede could potentially be yet another high-level capital gain if they were to sell him in the upcoming summer window.
One of his very first moves was Ederson, who is certainly not the classic low-cost profile found at some third-tier team, but is evidently a sensationally successful purchase (and another case where the market value of the player significantly increased compared to the initial outlay).
However, it is in Verona (where he went from being head of scouting to becoming sporting director) that D’Amico is most clearly attributable to some very successful deals, also because there the operations bore his stamp.
Three names above all: Rrahmani, Amrabat and Kumbulla (the latter a product of the Gialloblu youth sector), players who have generated sizeable profits in the accounts. This is also a theme that is definitely appreciated by those at Casa Milan.
