The Austria coach is expecting a call from the Rossoneri by the beginning of the week and wants Spors as sporting director and Vivell as head of scouts. Glasner, positive conversation with the Rossoneri leaders. Rangnick or not, long live the Pochettino track
Ralf Rangnick left for the United States without having defined his future one way or the other. Austria sent him an unequivocal message that they would like to renew his contract before the start of the World Cup (the first match against Jordan on the 17th), but the coach is waiting for a call from Milan. Not forever, however, and indeed he confided to the people who work with him that the deadline is set for the beginning of next week: either in or out… from the Devil. The situation is different for Oliver Glasner who, after the six-hour meeting on Tuesday with Cardinale and Ibrahimovic (who reappeared at Casa Milan yesterday), is ahead of Pochettino (Pulisic publicly praised the US coach: “He is a coach who brings a lot of energy”) to sit on the Rossoneri bench. With or without Rangnick, who indicated Glasner as the first coach on his list.
Spors and Vivell
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Rangnick is not a man who lets himself be distracted: he worked hard to bring Austria back to the World Cup and expects zero inattention from his team. At the same time, however, he doesn’t want to be the one to bring… distractions and, even if in the press conference he dismissed Milan’s interest with a few words (“My only interlocutor is the Austrian federation”), the rumors about his future at Milanello do not disappear. The only way is to put an end to the flirtation with Cardinale and his men. By the beginning of next week, therefore, the Austria coach expects that Casa Milan will give the OK to the conditions imposed on the Rossoneri, starting with the appointment of collaborators of his absolute trust in the club’s sporting area: the first option for the role of sporting director, for example, is Johannes Spors, currently at Southampton. Also German, he has already been in Italy, at Genoa, during the 777 Partners era: Spors, in agreement with the chosen coach, would carry out the negotiations for the signings in the period in which Rangnick will be overseas for the World Cup. Naturally, the “package” would also include the youth sector coaches, the head of scouts Christopher Vivell, now at Manchester United, and other collaborators to immediately bring the German’s philosophy to Milan. Vivell has been with Rangnick since the beginning, at Hoffenheim, starting as a video analyst. Then he followed him into the Red Bull galaxy, first at Salzburg, then at Leipzig, with increasingly important roles. Taking the “Rangnick package”, needless to say, is a significant commitment in terms of men to contract and money to invest. In these hours Cardinale is deciding whether to take this path, also because Vergine and Kirovski are already planning the future of the youth team and the Under 23 team.
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Glasner, as mentioned, could also arrive alone and at that point Cardinale would “only” have to complete the management structure. The former Crystal Palace player has opted for Milan and has one less suitor, given that Leverkusen has chosen another coach (Martinez, ex Toulouse), while across the Channel there are no free top benches. He could wait for the first one to be released in 2026-2027, but after winning the Conference, he would immediately want another challenge of a certain level.