Silvio Berlusconi will probably end up running through an entire league full of managers in hopes that at least one of them will be able to bring some glory back to the Milanese side’s plate. It’s been a terrible few years if you are a Milanista with the team finishing outside the top 6 for Three seasons in a row now without a single trophy to ease the pain.
In fact, AC Milan have not won anything since Max Allegri’s unprecedented march to the Scudetto in 2010-11 (unless you count the 2011-12 Italian Super Cup). All of it seems to be ancient history and what is scary if you are a Milanista is that so seems to be the case also with Milan’s reign as an elite club.
In the two and a half years since Max Allegri left the club (and went on to achieve greater things with a presently greater club), Berlusconi has hired and sacked Clarence Seedorf, Pippo Inzaghi and Sinisa Mihajlovic with the axe close to falling on the ex-Milan player and now head coach, Cristian Brocchi.
Milan weren’t all that happy with Mihajlovic and the same now stands for Brocchi who may find himself out of a job as AC Milan finished 7th in the league and 10 points off Inter let alone the 23 points off the UEFA Champions League spot.
A change in direction is nigh at the boardroom level with Berlusconi selling the club and so sooner rather than later a managerial change is on the cards, let’s have a look at the tentative names on the short list of managerial candidates who could take over if you believe the links in the press.
1) Rudi Garcia
The likes of Tutomercato and Tuttosport are all keen on linking Rudi Garcia to the AC Milan job and have named him as the favorite should the Chinese Consortium at the club take over as is claimed by the Milan hierarchy as a possibility.
The Ligue 1 winner who has had a fine experience with Roma before he was sacked by the Italian club may be a decent choice for the job. However, the murk and gloom around the club where expectations are high and of late, tidings are poor may be a problem for Garcia who finished second twice with Roma before being sacked midway through the third.
He does get his teams to play good football though and is a good natured manager with a lot often referring to him as one of the best young managers out of France, but he will certainly look for a job that has less baggage.
Manager-Club Match Rating – 3/5
Rudi Garcia is an excellent match for a club which will look to play good football and climb up the places in Serie A. If backed reasonably, he’d do a decent job building the team up again. However, doubts remain as to how much mopping up he is capable of, at a level where expectations will be high from the word go. Experience at clubs like Lille and Roma would serve him well if he were to take the job on.
Garcia has a keen eye for fresh unestablished talent and is great at nurturing them, so budget constraints would be something he could work with if his decision making otherwise is backed. Hence, a few conditions in place, he’d prove to be a decent choice for the club.
Rumour Rating – 3/5
Rudi Garcia is a free agent and he is actively looking for his next project. Considering, how he well he could align with the club he seems like a viable option for AC Milan and his appointment seems fairly logical.
2) Vincenzo Montella
Another who has been named by Italian media of late as an option is Vincenzo Montella. Montella is a good coach and was decent during his three seasons at Fiorentina where he kept the club rooted at 4th place throughout but Montella, for all the fervor around him in Italy, has done little to justify his tag as a top coach.
In fact, after joining Sampdoria in November when the side were around 10th, Montella managed to bring them further down to 15th. However the Sampdoria president, Massimo Ferrara has reiterated that he doesn’t wish to let Montella leave in the summer for any team other than Manchester United and Italy.
That’s a very tough stance right there, considering there’s little chance of either happening but he wasn’t really a great match for AC Milan’s troupe anyway with this clearly being a manager who needs stability at a club and decent investment to get the best results out.
Manager-Club Match Rating – 2/5
Not a specifically good match for a club looking to rebuild and in a form of transition. He’s a good coach but Milan have had good coaches before. It’s not a significant change in direction if he is appointed and Montella would have to do something special to make it work, going by his experience and standards. This is far from an ideal match for AC Milan.
Rumour Rating – 2/5
The Sampdoria manager’s stance on Montella would make any negotiations with Milan for his services a very tense affair, AC Milan don’t seem particularly keen on spending much on a manager when a whole squad needs a fair amount of rebuilding. This seems to be more speculation than logical.
3) Marco Giampaolo
It doesn’t help you when you say Empoli is the best team you’ve coached when you’re on the shortlist for a team that needs to be reinstated as a European Power and Marco Giampaolo has both points checked on his list.
Empoli have had a good season without a doubt and the manager is leaving his club at the season end. So there may be wings to this rumor but it isn’t exactly a very exciting match. The coach may have more to him but his history of getting sacked halfway into a season with Catania, Cesena and Seri B club Brescia before that doesn’t help his case. However, knowing the AC Milan of late, they just might get him on board just because he is available and willing.
Manager-Club Match Rating – 1/5
Milan has had its fair share of coaches out of its depth. Appointing Giampaolo would be a cost effective move but would make no sense based on the task that lies ahead considering how ill fitted in terms of experience and team handling he is to a side that eventually looks to win the Scudetto. He’d be a poor match.
Rumour Rating – 2/5
To anyone across the board, this would be a weird one. The man himself says “he wishes” Milan would come for him. So it seems to be a speculative effort from the reports linking him to the job on the basis of just his availability.
4) Unai Emery
Tuttosport seem to believe such a link-up between Milan and Emery is still possible. Ok, this might seem to be a far-fetched attempt but was not all that much of a far cry in the past summer when Milan tried to get him from Sevilla. He politely declined then intending to continue his good work at Sevilla but was flattered by the approach.
This season, the only thing that may bring him to Milan would be the history of the club and the chance to revive it, but the game changer if at all might be the touted takeover by the Evergrande Group and assurances of money spent.
Emery is one of the best younger coaches in the world right now, after all, it isn’t every day that you win the Europa League three times in a row. However, he may be enticed to wait it out and look for a bigger job sometime later. Even if he does move to Milan, you would believe that he’d only do so as a stepping stone.
He’d be better served staying at Sevilla though unless say a team like Real Madrid come calling.
Manager-Club Match Rating – 3.5/5
There are very few teams looking for a manager Unai Emery wouldn’t improve. He is on the shortlist of clubs like Everton and Valencia from reports gathered all around. He’d be the perfect fit for Milan on the basis of what he has achieved at Sevilla and the alacrity with which he has embarked on a special journey there with scarce resources. Clearly Milan recognise that having approached him last season to no joy.
Rumour Rating – 1/5
He has rejected AC Milan’s advances once and he politely refused West Ham before they looked elsewhere, it doesn’t make much sense to revisit his decision on Milan, considering nothing has changed since. The new ownership will have a tough time convincing him to come on board provided the sale of the club goes through itself.
5) Manuel Pellegrini
The Chilean manager has had a topsy-turvy season as he received news of his departure from Manchester City midway into the season as the hierarchy thought it wise to celebrate, having convinced Pep Guardiola to take over the reigns at the Etihad.
Since then, Manchester City have looked like a disjointed team and Manuel Pellegrini will only be too happy to have left it all behind him with the season ending in abject disappointment for him and City. Pellegrini, though seemed more than happy to court speculation of him joining AC Milan close to a few weeks ago with approval as he said: “Serie A is where all coaches have ambitions of going”.
Not bad, eh? Manuel Pellegrini could be a good match for a side that has purely got a bunch of underperformers in at one place together and don’t know how to play them as a team.
Pellegrini though is a fantastic manager in these situations if you remember his Villarreal days when he got a decent team to become European stalwarts for a few seasons.
You would also do well to remember that he nearly took Malaga to the UEFA Champions League semi-final before Jurgen Klopp’s Dortmund side killed that dream in stoppage time.
To sum it up Pellegrini is a good manager, has his team playing stylish football and would be a perfect fit for AC Milan even in the mess they are in but he would try to push for a better job and in the Premier League with teams like Everton, Zenit St. Petersburg and even Valencia all hoping to lure him on board.
Manager-Club Match Rating – 4/5
Manuel Pellegrini has done it all. He’s rebuilt teams and led big ones to a title. He’s managed Real Madrid and broken records in La Liga while also making several teams in the same league overperform and become European stalwarts. He has constructed teams from scratch based on the right support while not interfering in off-field matters. He’d be perfect for the job at AC Milan and would prove to be a great fit after the stress of managing Manchester City in the Premier League.
Rumour Rating – 3/5
Manuel Pellegrini doesn’t deny that the Serie A is an option for him. He has met the Everton board about the vacancy there but you would be inclined to think he’d need to beat Unai Emery and Frank de Boer to that job. If he doesn’t, AC Milan is a real possibility for the Chilean.
Manager watch: Verdict
Let’s face it, the AC Milan job is like a hot potato at the moment and it will remain so till they find a new owner and a better club hierarchy that puts the team back on the global map. As of now, the ideal candidate for this job will be Manuel Pellegrini, who has worked within limitations and boardroom issues before.
That he is available makes it a better punt that any attempt made to get Unai Emery out of Sevilla and there’s not a reason why Emery should come to Milan. He’d make for a perfect match in a league alongside the likes of Allegri, Sarri and Spalletti.
However, it seems likelier that Rudi Garcia would be the one making his way onto the hot seat at Milan and he would be a decent bet for the position and Milan’s immediate future.
Then again AC Milan have become a centre point for terrible decisions and may well decide to keep Brocchi in the seat for longer.
