GdS: Why Cardinale wanted Conceicao and the background on a deal agreed days ago | OneFootball

The AC Milan management have made a bold call right at the end of 2024: to change head coach, going from Paulo Fonseca to Sergio Conceicao.

La Gazzetta dello Sport have offered some background on how Conceiçao ended up at Milan and it starts in the Spring. The Portuguese coach made it clear he was leaving Porto – a farewell that would have been official at the beginning of June – and in his head he had already chosen Milan.

His agent, Jorge Mendes, spoke with Gerry Cardinale more than once and the messages sent from Portugal were clear: if you want, we’re in. Milan moved on, they preferred Fonseca, but in their heads the name of Conceiçao evidently remained.

Sergio competed for a while with other names like Maurizio Sarri, but then came a turning point. Giorgio Furlani, Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Geoffrey Moncada are the leaders of the management, yet it was Cardinale who pushed for Conceicao.

Milan chose him because he is a coach with a strong character and believes that a tough guy is good for the dressing room. If a scene was needed to create atmosphere, go back to April: four Porto players left out of the team because they were guilty of a bad attitude.

Conceiçao is like that: he believes that the strongest personality in the locker room should be the coach. He is also a winner, given that he lifted 11 trophies in his seven years with Porto. In many years he is a profile similar to Antonio Conte, who the Rossoneri also said no to in the summer.

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Conceiçao has only accepted a six-month guaranteed contract for Milan, and at other times he wouldn’t have done it. Other coaches wouldn’t have done it. He clearly likes the team and Italy is part of his life given his playing career at Lazio, Inter and Parma, all of which persuaded him.

Mendes and Conceiçao had already spoken with Milan in recent weeks and here it is up to you to decide whether it was a healthy precaution or a lack of respect towards Fonseca. The agreement over a contract was reached some time ago, and the documents were exchanged last week.

In short, everything was ready for the change, postponable in the event of a convincing victory against Roma. Sunday evening everything exploded: the rumours that came out first in Portugal and then in Italy, a match with a disheartened coach and the choice to change.