CM: ‘Where has Ibrahimovic gone?’ – fleeting presence leaves Milan exposed | OneFootball

After consecutive defeats before the international break that halted the momentum of the derby victory against Inter, question marks about Zlatan Ibrahimovic have arisen again.

Calciomercato.com have published a piece titled: ‘Where has Zlatan Ibrahimovic gone?’. Milan are once again dealing with the fierce criticism towards the team and Paulo Fonseca after a poor start to the season and the spotlight is also turned on the Swede.

The silence of the former striker has been broken, but not in the way fans would have hoped: a post on his social media in the last few hours showed a stitched-up head wound. Only two weeks have passed since Ibrahimovic’s last words (before the derby) and yet it feels like a long period of silence.

What could he have spoken about? The performance in Leverkusen was a game of two halves but the refereeing performance aroused a lot of anger among fans, who feel at least one penalty should have been awarded. Fonseca blasted the officials after the game and some back-up could have been useful.

Instead the comments that we have been left with so far have been the usual Zlatan, ranging from cryptic to comedic but with no real in between. There was the spat with Zvonimir Boban before the Liverpool game which was not received with unanimous approval.

More Stories / The Match

SempreMilan Podcast: Episode 330 – Back in the Saddle

14 October 2024, 18:00

GdS: Why Fonseca picking Theo’s replacement is the ‘strangest battle of the year’

14 October 2024, 16:10

MN: A tactical chance at redemption – why Chukwueze should start vs. Udinese

13 October 2024, 18:30

“My role is simple: I’m in charge, I’m the boss and everyone works for me. I know Boban didn’t understand it, but now I’ll tell him again: I’m in charge. I work and we work in silence,” he said.

Those very words marked a turning point and opened a 2.0 phase for Ibra as a manager, who followed a more low profile policy at least from a media point of view. His presence at Milanello has been intermittent but he has often been at games and has remained close to the squad.

Zlatan dialled back his precociousness before the derby: “Criticism is part of the job, part of the responsibility. My role doesn’t matter, Milan does: not everyone understands jokes, I have to be careful apparently… It’s a demanding job and I like it, but it’s not a one-man show. I’ve always said, those who criticise me don’t bother me, but give me gas.”

It was a jab that suggests that Ibrahimovic didn’t expect the long tail of controversy that followed his pre-Liverpool outbursts. Especially from that phrase ‘I am the boss’, which opened the door to the most varied interpretations and to the hypothesis of a complicated cohabitation with CEO Giorgio Furlani.

🔗 Instagram

Emblematic from this point of view is the controversy born from an Instagram post by Anita Elberse, a professor at Harvard Business School and expert in entertainment, media and sports business. The economist was at Milanello because she dedicated one of her studies to the Rossoneri, having had Furlani as a student at Harvard.

In one of the photos, Furlani and Elberse are posing in front of a blackboard on which the Milan organisational chart is depicted, where the name of the CEO is clearly highlighted (and clearly indicated by Furlani himself) as the first directly under Gerry Cardinale, above Ibrahimovic and Geoffrey Moncada.

It is a gesture that on social media – and not only – was read as a provocation, a clear response to that declaration by Ibra about being the boss. However, in reality it is because the hierarchy is important, given that Furlani has the ultimate powers to sign off on certain transactions.

The break is an opportunity to cool things down ahead of the two games at San Siro versus Udinese and Club Brugge, before Bologna and the big match with Napoli that will close October. We also expect Ibrahimovic to return in front of the cameras, to answer tough questions and be the lion he says he is.