‘From Andrea Berta to Fabio Paratici’ – Mazzara claims Milan will hire ‘pure sporting director’ | OneFootball

Journalist Pietro Mazzara believes that AC Milan will make structural changes to their management including the addition of a sporting director in the summer.

Milan have been officially without a sporting director since December 11 after the dismissal of Antonio D’Ottavio due to friction with Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Jovan Kirovski on the construction of Milan Futuro, and since then there has been speculation regarding a replacement.

A recent report from Calciomercato.com spoke of an initial idea to promote from within, naming Dario Vincenzo Aduasio or Alberto Carraro – from the sporting secretariat – as the potential candidates.

However, they went on to state that the club had decided against that idea and instead are looking at an external hire, with Andrea Berta – who left Atletico Madrid at the end of last year – mentioned as an option.

Mazzara published his weekly column for MilanNews and dedicated part of it to the crucial upcoming period regarding the direction of the club moving forward.

“The next few weeks are set to be decisive for the medium-long term life of the club. Because what emerges is that Milan has decided to make that management integration that everyone has been calling for for some time, that is, the inclusion of a pure sporting director in the organisational chart.

“The characteristics are different and are those that are needed for that type of role, that is, someone who knows how to be a man on the field, in support of the team and the coach, but also a man of the mercato, capable of building a squad and integrating well with the management.

“The names that have emerged, from Andrea Berta to Fabio Paratici (who is still suspended until the autumn, but could operate as a consultant before) to François Modesto and Igli Tare are all valid, because they are professionals who would fit well into that box that today is somewhat restricted in the skills of Giorgio Furlani (who remains the plenipotentiary) and Geoffrey Moncada.

“It all depends on the type of choice that Milan will want to make, also because this decision will be important and impactful for the construction of the team for the 2025-26 season and also for what could concern the choice of a possible new coach, because a new sporting director could want to have an impact on that item too.

“The question that then arises spontaneously is another: what would happen to Moncada and Ibrahimovic? The former would return full-time to being the head of scouting while Zlatan would continue to be the advisor of RedBird.

“To close the chapter on sporting directors, the latter would then also have to impact the reorganisation of Milan Futuro (in the hope that the team is saved) and perhaps appoint, there too, a man he trusts given that Kirovski’s work, both sporting and economic, is not satisfying anyone and his position could be the subject of in-depth reflections.”