Pellegatti claims Cardinale was ‘fascinated by the business plan’ Paratici had for Milan | OneFootball

Gerry Cardinale was intrigued by the idea of hiring Fabio Paratici after being impressed by his plan for AC Milan, at least according to Carlo Pellegatti.

As we wrote about extensively in a feature last night, Milan’s pursuit of a new sporting director has descended into a farce. The list of candidates remains with no decisive move forthcoming from the club in order to start planning for the future.

The figure who was closest to arriving was Paratici. He met several times with the Rossoneri leadership, including Cardinale and Zlatan Ibrahimovic first in England, then Giorgio Furlani in Italy. However, when things looked close to closing, it all fell apart.

Pellegatti’s revelation

The well-known journalist Carlo Pellegatti spoke about the sporting director issue during the Chiamarsi Bomber podcast ‘Aria Fritta’, revealing a particular behind-the-scenes story on the meeting between Cardinale and Paratici.

“I ask myself things, because it doesn’t escape me, this is the epochal question: why do we have an owner, RedBird, Gerry Cardinale, who meets with Zlatan Ibrahimovic on February 28 Paratici in addition to the other two,” he said (via MilanNews).

He meets him again with Giorgio Furlani in London and, I’ll give you this news, and he was fascinated [Cardinale] by the business plan that Paratici made for him. Had Cardinale already chosen Tare? Who said that, just imagine!

Photo by Alessandro Sabattini/Getty Images

“During the night of the long knives, from April 3 to 4, on Wednesday April 2 the contract had already been filed by the two lawyers. Paratici’s mistake was not having signed it on April 2, because there were still some clauses he wanted to examine.

“On April 3 everything seemed done, on the morning of the 4th everything was finished. And then it seemed he would no longer come, because of the pressure, because of him, for whatever you want. And Gerry Cardinale goes to meet him again on Saturday the 19th.

“So the question is: why does he go to meet him again? Because Paratici was the figure he liked the most. A bit for the business plan and a bit because you take Paratici, one of the great sporting directors around.

“So the point is that he seemed to be back in the thick of things, but suddenly the matter fell through with Paratici going to Tottenham. But how come the owner wanted Paratici, even with all the problems, and I remember Gravina’s words, if you’re the owner, you want green paint, I’ll come and I’ll make it yellow for you… I don’t know.”