AC Milan Strategy To Return To The Top Varies From Inter and Juventus According To CEO

AC Milan’s CEO spoke to Grant Wahl on the Futbol podcast discussing his time with Milan and his plans for the future of the club. He discussed the recruitment strategy, youth and the managerial choice.

Here is a section of the interview via Sempre Milan:

What are your strategies for making Milan grow from a sporting point of view?

“We came to a club that was in a really bad financial situation. The revenues have remained the same for a long time while the other clubs also grew from this point of view, and at the same time the costs have grown leading to really important losses. It is not a situation that you solve overnight, it takes time.

“While it’s not popular, we had to cut costs by trying to improve performance. It’s not an easy thing at all, I assure you. If we had done the same things as clubs like Juventus and Inter we would not have been able to reach them and compete with them because they were ahead of us with their plans.

“So we brought a lot of new ideas, we relied on analysis and a very good scouting department, we wanted someone to lead all this and so Maldini returned to the club after 10 years for the first time. We have focused on young players, we have bought and will continue to buy great talents from all over the world, players eager to improve, proud to wear this shirt and the desire to develop their career with us.

“Players who, in one way or another, have to prove something. Ibrahimovic also falls into this category. Although age is a very romantic challenge for him, he has a special connection with the club. Leading a group of young guys and bringing Milan back to the top is a challenge made especially for him.

“We needed to find the right coach and we found him in Stefano Pioli. After the lockdown we had an extraordinary period that cannot only come down to the result, victory or defeat: for Milan, victory is necessary, but it is not enough. We want to play dynamic, proactive football, and we are doing it with a group of young people.”