Scaroni comments on Milan’s season, transfer failings, sporting director and Ibrahimovic’s role | OneFootball

AC Milan president Paolo Scaroni has admitted that it has been a bad season on the field, but pointed to the Supercoppa Italiana triumph.

Milan made the decision to entrust Paulo Fonseca with the task of taking over from Stefano Pioli for the 2024-25 season, and a number of signings arrived in Alvaro Morata, Emerson Royal, Youssouf Fofana, Tammy Abraha and Strahinja Pavlovic.

However, Fonseca’s tenure lasted just 24 games as he was replaced at the end of December by his compatriot Sergio Conceicao. Things started well as he lifted the Supercoppa Italiana after just two games, yet things have declined from there.

Now, a crucial summer awaits for Milan in which they must choose the right sporting director and head coach, to try rectify some of the mistakes from the past 12 months and right the course of a ship that sunk fast.

Scaroni spoke at an event at San Siro that the newspaper Il Foglio put on and he was interviewed by them about a number of different topics connected to the Rossoneri, with MilanNews relaying his comments.

Despite the results, Milan are top of Serie A for attendance…

“The fans are at the center of our attention, having the fans by our side is very important. Having them even in such a difficult season as this year’s is proof that we have fans who are, one might say, resilient today and who put up with Milan even when Milan are not performing brilliantly as they have this year.

“Even if I remember it, let’s not forget it, we took the Supercoppa right at the end. I don’t feel like I can say it was a totally negative season.”

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The investigation into the ultras issue continues…

“This is a problem that we have, Milan and Inter. Maybe other clubs in Italy have it too, but the judiciary has focused on our Curvas. I just have to thank the judiciary because we want our stadiums to become places of entertainment for families, and the last thing we want is to have criminals cohabiting in our stadium.

“So let’s take advantage of this opportunity of the impositions that come from the Judiciary to clean up. We are doing it every day, of course monitoring access. We will do facial recognition on access to the stadium.

“We will do many things to ensure that neither violent people nor criminals enter the stadium of course. And this is the first step. Then when we have the new stadium we will take the decisive step, because also following the example of England.

“In England the hooligans disappeared when the new stadiums were built, and I am convinced that for us too the creation of a new stadium will be an epochal step.”

How can Milan strengthen the sporting project for next season?

“Being active is one thing, then being successful is another. Certainly some of the acquisitions we have made have been very successful, and we have players who have become long-term Milan players, bringing us consistently very good performances.

“Other arrivals in Milan have been less successful, Morata who now plays at Galatasaray certainly wasn’t a great operation in the end, for many reasons, because then how do you create a chemistry for which a great player like Morata does well at Milan, well, there’s always a risk, it’s never a given.

“We intend to continue with our policy of being active especially with young players, so we will continue in this process of strengthening the team which is naturally entrusted to those who deal with these things.

“Giorgio Furlani first of all, then Ibra and let’s say our entire team involved in all of this. Because next year we would like to have a great season.”

Is Ibrahimovic still an added value for Milan?

“Well. He is certainly an added value for Milan and for RedBird. He is a consultant for RedBird, on loan to Milan. Ibra is a great champion, he was a great champion and he is still a great champion in his work.

“I have to say that I see an absolutely positive climate. I read every now and then about different visions, but in reality it doesn’t seem so to me. It seems to me that his relationship [with Furlani] is excellent.”

On the potential new sporting director

“We certainly continue to look around because we want to strengthen our team. We want to strengthen the team but also those around it.

“Nothing has been decided, we are doing surveys to see who would be the most suitable people to strengthen the management. The decision will be made in the coming weeks. But for the moment no decision has been made.”

Will a new stadium finally arrive for Milan and Inter?

“Today, as I see the situation: we have returned, we have played a sort of game of snakes and ladders, and we have returned to where we started. That is, building a new stadium, here, in San Siro, playing at the Meazza until the new stadium is ready.

“When the new stadium is ready, moving from the Meazza to there. Then where the Meazza is at the moment, preserving some vestiges of this stadium that we all love, which is so important for our history, doing some activities, we will bring the headquarters of Milan, of Inter here, we will bring a hotel.

“We will build a hotel, we will do many things. Today you hear a more optimistic voice, the motivation is this: this project is no longer just the project of Milan and Inter, it has also become the project of the Administration of Milan and the Mayor of Milan.

“He wants to give Milan a wonderful stadium, this city deserves it. The two clubs that play here deserve it. Milan, thanks to Milan and Inter, is one of the great capitals of world football, and it must have a stadium not beautiful, very beautiful, very efficient, something we are all proud of.

“We want it and the Mayor wants it. So, I always maintain a certain level of concern because I know Italy and I know how difficult it is in Italy to do major works. But if you ask me what probability I give of reaching a successful conclusion to this process, I would say much more than 50%.”

Photo by Marco Luzzani/Getty Images

Even the Mayor understood that staying in the area made sense…

“Surely this also has an impact. Even the Mayor and the Administration have many voices. There is a majority, an opposition, there is a composite majority, so I put myself in their shoes. It is never easy to coagulate a consensus around such an important work. So I can understand this.

“Then how did the fact that both we and Inter are so determined to have a new structure that hosts us have an influence, for which we would have also considered the idea of ​​leaving San Siro, it is something that is important.

“I have always been against the renovation of the Meazza. What is the fundamental reason? Because I cannot imagine a large construction site, with cranes, cement, where 70 thousand people enter every 3 days. I consider it a very dangerous thing for people, for everyone.

“There is no example of two teams playing in a stadium and renovating it in a heavy manner as this requires, continuing to play football. If we had a stadium here near Milan with even just 40,000 spectators – it’s true that we have 70,000 – where we can move for a year, well, the renovation would have made sense.”

What are the other problems in Italian football?

“As far as piracy is concerned, we have a beautiful law, made by the Italian parliament, recently, which is not applied sufficiently. Or rather, it is applied but practically never punishes those who take advantage of it.

“We need the Judiciary, the Guardia di Finanza, the authorities to punish those who buy pezzotto. Because those who buy pezzotto are committing a small crime. If this issue does not enter people’s heads, we will always have this problem.

“On the issue of betting, gambling, there it seems to me that the Government has understood that Italy cannot be the only country in the world where betting cannot be advertised, for some reason it is not clear, and that we who are the origin of gambling do not benefit from it.

“I expect that in a short time there will be interventions that will contribute to bringing us the money we need to compete at a European level. On the third issue, which is that of television rights, we have a very difficult uphill climb ahead of us.

“Because on this ground we missed the boat many years ago when the Premier League managed to sell itself to the world. The Spanish League was lucky to have two great champions playing there for many years, I’m talking about Ronaldo and Messi who attracted international television rights.

“Then let’s not forget that 600 million people in the world speak Spanish, so we also have to deal with these realities. And so we have a difficult path ahead of us, but the League agrees that this is an absolute priority and we will do everything we can to make this climb together to make Serie A what it once was.”

A word of hope for Milan fans?

“There are many other names, because Milan is made up of all its players. Someone asked me for a few names, I said that Reijnders and Pulisic had consistently very good performances during the season.

“Then Leao excites our fans, but I think he excites everyone, including me, and so every now and then we need strong emotions. From this point of view Leao gives us great emotions. But let’s remember that what matters is the team.

“Naming names seems like we want to forget the others, but that’s not the case. And I hope that next season we can all do much better.”