AC Milan in search of a head coach: the names in the frame
Nearly ten days have passed since the wave of collective dismissals that swept through AC Milan‘s management and coaching staff, yet the name of the new head coach has still not been announced. A silence that grows heavier by the day, fuelling uncertainty and becoming increasingly difficult to justify as merely “taking the time needed to get it right”.
The profiles circulating most persistently in recent weeks remain those of Ralf Rangnick, Oliver Glasner and Mauricio Pochettino — three very different figures in terms of history, footballing philosophy and professional background. As we have reported, the search for a new head coach is proving more complicated than expected.
Cardinale and the ‘Fabregas model’: an idea that remained just that
To add further complexity to the situation, Gerry Cardinale himself has played a part. At a recent meeting with journalists, the Milan owner declared his intention to pursue a coach “in the Fabregas mould”, evoking the innovative and forward-thinking profile of the Spaniard who at Como has built an ambitious, recognisable football project.
The problem is that none of the candidates currently on the table — neither Rangnick, nor Glasner, nor Solskjaer — bears any resemblance to that kind of profile. Rangnick is a high-press, high-intensity theorist; Glasner is an experienced coach but of an entirely different school; Pochettino has a distinguished history but one far removed from the “young and proactive” football Cardinale seemed to be describing.
Two readings are possible: either that declaration was a throwaway line tossed to the press without any real technical strategy behind it; or — and this is the more troubling hypothesis — Cardinale does not have a deep technical understanding of football, and the reference to Fabregas was simply a well-known name used as a loose frame of reference.
The triangle of power: Cardinale, Calvelli and Ibrahimovic
The real question circulating in circles close to the club is: who actually has the power to decide? At the top of AC Milan today stand three very different figures.
- Gerry Cardinale, the owner, whose vision does not always appear coherent with footballing reality.
- Calvelli, the prospective new CEO, whose professional background lies in the world of tennis — a distinguished career, but one that raises legitimate questions about his ability to navigate the specific dynamics of professional football.
- Zlatan Ibrahimovic, RedBird’s senior advisor, who two years ago already led his own “revolution”, bringing in first Fonseca and then Conceição, with a transfer strategy that ultimately fell short of expectations.
The hypothesis gaining the most traction — and one that could paradoxically prove the most sensible — is that AC Milan opts to hand everything over to Ralf Rangnick, giving him full autonomy over every technical and transfer decision. The German boasts more than thirty years of experience in European football, having built solid projects at RB Leipzig and Red Bull Salzburg and demonstrated a clear ability to rebuild a club from scratch. The sticking point, however, remains his availability: committed to Austria at the 2026 World Cup, he would not be free before mid-July, with all the knock-on consequences that entails for the transfer window.
The other variable is whether Ibrahimovic is genuinely willing to take a step back — his larger-than-life personality and natural tendency to occupy centre stage represent a factor that will need to be managed carefully, whatever solution the club ultimately decides to pursue.
