GdS: ‘A turning point’ – ex-Atalanta director in pole to lead Milan’s ‘revolution’ | OneFootball

AC Milan’s sporting director saga continues as we move past the middle of May, and a new name has entered the frame: Lee Congerton.

As La Gazzetta dello Sport (seen below) report this morning, the most impressive winger in Serie A might be Ademola Lookman, who was also crowned best African player in the last Ballon d’Or ceremony.

He won the Europa League final for Atalanta with his hat-trick, three of 49 goals scored in 117 matches with La Dea from 2022 to today. That is, since Lee Congerton – former Head of International Development for the Bergamo club – decided to sign him.

An impressive CV

Congerton, a 51-year-old from Wales, had a short career as a player affected by injuries. Then he was a youth coach at Wrexham, Liverpool and Chelsea. In London he also became head scout, before moving to the Bundesliga as technical director of Hamburg.

There he endosed the signing of Hakan Calhanoglu, then a young talent from Karlsruher, in the German third division. Congerton’s career continued as a director at Sunderland, then at Celtic and Leicester.

From the Premier League he went to Atalanta in March 2022, being alongside the team in every European away game and permanently at the training centre, working closely with Luca Percassi. In the summer of 2022 he was the one to lead the Lookman deal, already studied closely at Leicester.

He was then decisive in the purchases of Ederson and Rasmus Hojlund, resold after just one season to United with a capital gain of €50m. The relationships with the leaders of English football, and more generally international, are solid.

In February 2024, Congerton left Bergamo for Saudi Arabia, specifically Jeddah, where he was charged with recruiting new talent for Al-Ahli.

Rossoneri revolution

In the race for the title of Milan’s next sporting director, Congerton has leapt forward, closer than the others to crossing the finish line. He has the European profile and the experience that Milan is looking for in the candidate to whom they will assign the role.

There are also a series of alternative options, to be evaluated between now and next week: after the season, it will finally be time for choices and announcements. Whoever it is, the new Rossoneri director will have a huge job to do.

He will have to be the architect of the team’s technical revolution, starting with the choice of coach. Then the decisions on the current squad: who to keep and who to let go, for what amount and to what destination.

Then the renewals, with the open cases of Theo Hernandez and Mike Maignan. The former, in particular, is a puzzle. He can only stay by accepting a lower salary, otherwise other proposals will be evaluated, but from whom?

With one year to go until the deadline, how much could come into the accounts? From here, how much could be released and to buy whom? All questions that the new sports director will have to answer.