Project adaptation and Marotta’s shadow: Why Milan moving on from Paratici may be a blessing | OneFootball

A lot can happen in a few days, especially when it concerns AC Milan. The sporting director pursuit has now resumed after talks with Fabio Paratici collapsed.

Paratici will not be – barring unexpected developments – the next sporting director of Milan. It has been a whirlwind few days, starting with reports of a verbal agreement being reached between the parties, and then followed by an abrupt slowdown with the reasons still filtering out.

Just when the negotiations to define his appointment were coming to an end, things came crashing to a half. It is believed that Milan were initially calm about the situation relating to his suspension until July 20, but then things took a negative turn when they learned about his limited operability.

There was also talk that the upcoming verdict on the Prisma investigation – a criminal trial rather than a sporting one – left CEO Giorgio Furlani a bit uneasy, as did some pressure from Italian football’s governing body, the FIGC.

However, the decision to do a sharp U-turn – something this management are letting us become accustomed to, after the Julen Lopetegui case – might end up proving to be a good thing for Milan.

An expensive profile for a different project

The first point to consider is the economic issue. Paratici represents a high-level profile, accustomed to working at clubs where the budget was not an insurmountable limit, as it is at Milan, especially with the prospect of no European football.

At Juventus, the former manager won nine consecutive Scudetti, often being able to count on significant investments to bring players of the highest level to the club. This was helped by working alongside Beppe Marotta for most of his time there.

Juve almost had a monopoly on domestic talent within Serie A at the time which allowed them to pull strings and bring in Gonzalo Higuain, Paulo Dybala, Federico Chiesa, Manuel Locatelli and many more. They also had the means to go out and get Cristiano Ronaldo, unthinkable for Milan at the time.

Even at Tottenham, although with mixed fortunes, he had the opportunity to pursue players that required significant investments like Cristian Romero, Dejan Kulusevski and Rodrigo Bentancur among others.

He persuaded the hierarchy to go out and get Antonio Conte too as a guarantee of ambition, aiming to usher in an era of success that has been long-promised and never delivered to Spurs fans, and wasn’t this time either.

Can today’s Milan guarantee similar room for manoeuvre, especially with the pre-defined condition that the new director will be part of a working group? The answer, at least for now, seems to be negative.

Coach and identity

The first major test of the Paratici-Milan project would have been the choice of head coach. If the profile were to be an established coach like Massimiliano Allegri or Conte, we could glimpse a return to the winning mentality that Paratici embodied in his time at Juventus.

The problem is that having such a demanding coach would naturally arouse expectations about a mercato to match. As mentioned, it feels as though the Rossoneri – at this current moment in time – wouldn’t be willing to splash €150m+ in one window like Napoli did to welcome Conte.

On the contrary, focusing on an emerging coach like Roberto De Zerbi or Vincenzo Italiano could give the idea of ​​a project designed to grow over the medium-term, but with scaled-down ambitions. There were concrete rumours that both coaches were on his radar too.

At this point, a question arises spontaneously: are Milan the one who wants to adapt to Paratici’s mentality or vice versa? Without a top-tier coach, the arrival of the former Juventus director would risk being interpreted as a stopgap rather than a turning point.

Post-Marotta question marks

Another aspect that should not be underestimated is the absence of Marotta, with whom Paratici built his greatest successes. Since he emerged from the now-Inter president’s shadow, the manager has never shone in the same way, and his experience at Tottenham has demonstrated this.

Indeed, Paratici’s later years with the Bianconeri drew criticism because of high wage commitments such as the Ronaldo and Aaron Ramsey deals, while investments on certain young talents such as Romero, Merih Demiral and Weston McKennie did not pay off in the immediacy nor became part of the future core.

A spontaneous comparison with Igli Tare arises, the former Lazio director wanted by Zlatan Ibrahimovic at Milan. He is capable of building competitive teams with limited resources, as shown in his 15 years under Claudio Lotito.

If Milan want a pragmatic sporting director capable of developing talent at a low cost, Tare remains a more suitable profile. Paratici brings with him the aura of someone who has won, but without the right resources he has shown that he can flounder.

The possibility of lost time

Moving on from the theoretical and hypothetical, we arrive at the actual reasons that Milan decided not to hire Paratici. Again we start from a premise: this summer is huge for the club, and every second counts in planning for it.

Due to his suspension, multiple restrictions would be in place with Paratici until the end of July, with the importance varying. Article 9.2 states that the Italian would be unable to represent the club in a national or international setting.

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This means that he could not participate in council or federal meetings which would be a problem, and he could not enter UEFA conferences. In other words, despite being the new sporting figurehead, he wouldn’t be able to ‘represent’ the club until late July.

Secondly, he could also not access the changing rooms or any adjacent rooms. This might sound trivial, but it has been well-documented that Milan are looking for someone who liaises with the squad on a day-to-day basis.

Finally, he could not engage in meetings with players or agents, which renders him effectively useless until the middle of the mercato. That, we believe, is the crucial sticking point that has forced the hierarchy to reconsider.

Now, we must wait and see what the powers that be ultimately decide. Football often presents many sliding doors moments, and the decision to turn away from Paratici certainly feels like a defining one in Milan’s future course.