It has now been twelve days since the sacking of Massimo Allegri — which took place on 25 May — along with the dismissals of Tare, Moncada and Furlani, and AC Milan remains at a standstill: no manager, no CEO, no operational management structure. And yet, according to sources close to the club, the new watchword appears to be just one: patience.
The changing narrative: from 7-10 days to an open-ended timeline
Just days ago, on 25 May, Gerry Cardinale met a small group of hand-picked journalists at a central Milan hotel. On that occasion, the RedBird owner assured them that the decision on the new head coach would be made within 7-10 days. A promise that, in light of what has followed, now feels like a distant memory.
The club has since passed a new message through the same trusted media contacts: “There’s no rush. It’s better to take a decision carefully than to act hastily. A few extra days are worth more than making the wrong choice.”
It is a clear shift in narrative — one that at least partially reveals the genuine difficulty the club is experiencing in finding a manager willing to take on the role in a club currently lacking any defined management structure.
The situation inside the club: a work in progress
The internal picture at Milan is more complex than ever. In practice, only three figures are currently operating within the club: Gerry Cardinale, Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Giorgio Calvelli. All senior leadership positions remain unfilled, and there is a growing sense that several high-profile candidates have already declined to engage, aware of the instability of the current situation.
The reality, beyond the official communications, is that the ownership appears to have underestimated the complexity of the task: finding an internationally recognised manager, willing to rebuild a squad almost from scratch, at a club that currently has neither a sporting director nor an operational CEO, has proved far more difficult than initially anticipated. As previously reported, the ownership has turned to head-hunting agencies to identify key figures — a sign that the process still has a long way to go.
Pochettino or Glasner: the battle for the Rossoneri bench
On the names front, the main contest appears to be between Mauricio Pochettino, current head coach of the United States national team, and Oliver Glasner, the Austrian manager fresh from his stint at Crystal Palace. At present, according to information circulating in circles close to the club, Glasner holds the edge.
The Glasner scenario would reportedly be viable independently of Ralf Rangnick potentially joining in a director role — a pairing that until recently seemed almost inseparable. Rangnick himself remains an open chapter: the German coach has held talks with Milan, but his final answer — expected in the first days of next week — will also have to factor in a competing offer from the Austrian Football Federation, which has not yet given up on retaining him.
A long and decisive summer ahead
In the meantime, the transfer market remains frozen. Without operational management and without a head coach, it is impossible to plan signings and departures in any structured way. Many players could leave Milanello, and Rafael Leão continues to fuel transfer rumours with statements pointing towards the exit door, as reported in recent weeks.
The hope is that Cardinale and his team — reportedly travelling across Europe personally to meet potential managers — will soon close the chapter on the coaching role and set the Rossoneri machine back in motion. AC Milan has every resource and every ounce of history needed to bounce back: it just needs the right leadership in place, and soon.
