The first meeting between Giorgio Furlani and Igli Tare took place in Rome on Tuesday, and he is the main candidate for the sporting director role.
This morning’s edition of La Gazzetta dello Sport (seen below) writes that the talks were positive, but we are not at the point of shaking hands or signing contracts. After yesterday’s face-to-face meeting, positive feelings remain in the air.
The parties will speak to each other again, perhaps soon, and they could meet again after Easter to discuss the matter in more detail. The Milan CEO has been very cautious since he took over the management of the hiring process and he wants to be fully convinced.
This is even at the cost of waiting another couple of weeks, or maybe more. The fundamental aspect for the club owned by RedBird Capital is not to get this appointment wrong, especially after such a bad season.
The first meeting
After the talks with Fabio Paratici did not lead to an agreement, mainly due to concerns over the suspension he is serving until July 20, Furlani went to Miami last week for an event related to an important commercial partner together with the honorary vice president Franco Baresi.
At the top of his list of priorities there was and still is the need to identify the ‘right’ sporting director, a role that remains unoccupied at present. The identikit is to find a professional with proven experience in the Italian and foreign markets, and who will be close to the squad.
After an initial series of discussions in London carried out by Gerry Cardinale and Zlatan Ibrahimovic (with Paratici and Andrea Berta spoken to), now it is Furlano who is in charge. Yesterday he met Tare for the first time in person, perhaps the candidate a little more advanced than the others.
With 15 years of experience at Lazio across three decades, in which he made important market moves (top signings and big sales), the Albanian has the advantage of not being under contract with any club. He would therefore be available to start work immediately.
However, Milan are stalling or at least not stepping on the accelerator for now. In their long conversation (four hours) Furlani and Tare got to know each other better, they discussed work methods and the guidelines to follow for Milan.
This was not the occasion to delve into the discussion on possible choices at the level of coach and players. Let’s say it was ‘a first date’ of sorts. The CEO would have preferred to keep it a secret, but yesterday morning he was spotted on a train headed to the capital.
The other names
Furlani’s list is not just Paratici and Tare, however. In the next few days, everything suggests that other profiles will be evaluated. Either in person or via a video call. It is possible that figures like Thiago Scuro of Monaco could be spoken to.
Bearing in mind that the idea was and remains to hire someone who knows Italian football, it seems that he is more in the background. Milan also had the names of Tony D’Amico, Giovanni Manna and Giovanni Sartori on their notebook, but at the moment all three are destined to stay where they are.
Will another surprise candidate emerge? Will there be unexpected news? It is impossible to speculate. The only certain fact is that Furlani and Milan want to evaluate all possible options and have other discussions for such a delicate position.
Tare is probably a step ahead of the competition, but the ending is not a given for the moment.
