Milan, Ibrahimovic and the decisions on the coach and management: Cardinale’s trust

And in the end Ibra remains. Or rather, Zlatan Ibrahimovic is not to be considered a manager of Milan, but a member and a partner of RedBird, so he doesn’t go or stay, he is well beyond these discussions. Gerry Cardinale chose him when the Swede ended his career as a footballer, involving him in the project in a singular way, that is, by offering him shares in the American fund he owns. A proposal that had also been made to Paolo Maldini at the time, but without success. Maldini said “no thanks”, Ibra replied “yes willingly” and began his new adventure alongside Cardinale, making himself available to learn and grow as a manager, unlike Paolo who was removed from Milan. Without formal commitments – the Swede is not in the Rossoneri organization chart, but is the club’s senior advisor – but strong in mutual respect with Gerry. It is no coincidence that, in Milan’s reconstruction project in what promises to be the true year zero of the RedBird ownership – with Elliott out of the picture -, Ibrahimovic is and will be of crucial importance, especially in immediate technical decisions. Put simply, Ibra has a say in the choice of the new coach and the technical area and he also discussed it last night at dinner with Cardinale. Also because he is currently the only one in RedBird coming from the world of football. However, it is not the only reason that pushes Cardinale to blindly trust Zlatan: Gerry particularly appreciates his partner’s desire to learn, a former top striker but new to the managerial scene.

role

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As mentioned, Ibrahimovic is not a Milan manager. What does it mean? Simple, he is not required to expose himself personally in the daily affairs of society. If he did so in the past, as in 2024-25, when he spent himself personally during the summer signing campaign and also in daily management, at least in the first part of the season, it was more than anything else to fill a managerial void. The situation, however, should not repeat itself. Milan is, in fact, intent on finding a managing director (watch out for Michael Edwards of Liverpool), a technical director and a sporting director. This is why Ibra will also be able to focus on other collateral activities, such as the commitment with Fox Sports in the United States during the 40 days of the World Cup or the foray into the world of boxing with the announcement – made via social media a few days ago – of an unspecified challenge with Tyson Fury.

choices

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Before leaving for the States, however, Ibra will contribute with Cardinale and Calvelli to designing the Milan of the future. If we talked about the topic of coaching in the previous pages, it is best to address the technical area here. As with the bench, there is already a short list of names. We really like Txiki Beguiristain, a former striker like Ibrahimovic, but above all already a transfer man for Barcelona from 2003 to 2010 (he bought Zlatan from Inter) and for Manchester City from 2012 to 2024. Beguiristain played an important part in the beginning of Pep Guardiola’s coaching career, bringing him not only to the bench of the first team in Catalonia, but also choosing him in England. Today he is free and in Ibra’s eyes he would be the ideal man to develop a top project in Italy too. Ramon Planes, now at Al Ittihad, is also Catalan. While a name already within the RedBird galaxy is that of Viktor Bezhani, current sporting director of Toulouse. The Italian hypotheses are more secluded, including the one that leads to Fabio Paratici, currently linked to Fiorentina, but already sought after a year ago by Milan precisely on Zlatan’s idea.