Milan, Pioli: “Tonali is a serious loss, he must be replaced with dignity”

CARNAGO – “A sustainable football”. Pioli gladly repeats it and the adjective, the same as AC Milan’s American management, refers to a market made up of ideas, rather than effective shots: “First of all we want motivated players. Since we are talking about high-level footballers, it is their motivations that make the difference. Loftus-Cheek and Romero, the first two to arrive, have them. They expect to be able to give their best”. Pioli with superpowers, as he has been depicted, tried to minimize the new English-style manager role, in his first press conference of the season: “I feel emotion, that’s right. I really want to work. The opponents will be the usual ones, but the prediction grids don’t count, also because they are often wrong. What we do from August 21 onwards will count.” But it is undeniable that it is another Milan, without Maldini and Massara: “I want to thank Paolo and Ricky, the one with them was the longest relationship of my career with managers. Then the club chose another path”.

“Discussions with Maldini, but always with respect”

Were the differences between Maldini one of the causes of the divorce between the club and the technical director? The question comes at the end of the press conference and Pioli replies without hesitation: “Trust and respect have always been maximum with Paolo. There has never been a lack of discussions between us, we weren’t on the same side on some situations, but there were many more in the year of the Scudetto. Have I ever feared he will be exonerated? No. If one has this fear, then it ends up happening. I know the risks of the job, but I don’t think about it, I think about working in the best possible way”.

“Milan are looking for a compatible football”

Now the new role as a manager, as an English coach, is looming, on which he glosses over: “The truth is that I have always felt at the center, the club has always made me feel this way. Only my interlocutors have changed, now they are Geoffrey Moncada and Giorgio Furlani. I don’t think my figure has changed much, my role is one of sharing and ideas. The market? I’ve always heard the players who can come here, it also happened with Maignan and Giroud. We are looking for a compatible vision of football, ours has always been a market of ideas. I’m not the one negotiating, but of course I’ve always participated in team building. It may be time to make some changes in the team.”

The project on Franco Baresi

Franco Baresi’s club manager project finds Pioli in favor: “I don’t know if it will be like this, Franco is Milan and already has a position in the club. Certainly his charisma and his personalities could only be good for everyone ”. The sporting objectives are the usual: the championship and a journey as far as possible in the Champions League: “When you coach a club like Milan, you have to look for the maximum, which is competitiveness in all competitions. We have to keep improving. I would like to leave on July 21st for Los Angeles, for the American tour, with the team 100% ready, but it will be difficult. Obviously between now and July 21 I expect something on the market. I don’t want to talk about this or that other area of ​​the pitch.”

The absence of Maldini and Massara, he assures, does not make him feel more vulnerable and exposed to criticism: “If you are alluding to the fact that I can feel more alone or less protected, I say no. The fate of the coach is always in the hands of the club. I have always assumed my responsibilities in front of the fans.” There may be some tactical changes, Pioli doesn’t rule it out at all: “This is my fifth season at Milan, I feel like an architect of a house in which the structure is solid and gives us ample guarantees, but some areas of the house need to be revisited. It also applies to tactics, to new solutions and new positions. We are looking for players for our sustainable football, a football of quality and intelligence”.

“Newcomers are smart, they will adapt”

The hard start of the calendar, decided by the computer, cannot become an alibi: “If we rest less than the others in the first 15 days, he will want us to work intensely right away. I have a normal relationship with the computer, I want to start with positivity and confidence: you have to face all the games. There are only 50 days left until the start of the championship, we will work hard”. The market objectives, for now, are above all foreigners: after Loftus-Cheek and Pulisic, Reijnders, Musah and Chukwueze: “It’s not that we don’t want Italians, it’s that the market sometimes offers solutions, the characteristics of the players count. They’re smart and I don’t think they need much adaptation.”

“Tonali is a serious loss, it needs to be replaced with dignity”

Ibrahimovic will be absent in the locker room, now new leaders are needed: “Thanks to Zlatan too, the team has grown, there are now mature players: it will be a very motivating challenge to be successful even without him. A role for him at Milan? If he wants to come to Milanello, he will be welcome at any time, but I don’t know yet what he will want to do. The club is giving continuity to our path, the players know which shirt they are wearing. Tonali is a serious loss, even tactically, unfortunately a situation has arisen in which it was difficult to do something different. But he is a player who will be worthily replaced. On the wing I want speed and one-on-one, the new midfielders will have to have complementary characteristics. It will depend on the number of arrivals and the situations: the strategies are there, we’ll see what can materialize. Kalulu? This year he will be a centre-back, moving him to full-back as well, I’ve confused his ideas a bit”.

There was a morning phone call with Gerry Cardinale, the American owner: “He told me to work hard and get the message across to the players”. The closure is a reminder of Silvio Berlusconi: “I was on the plane to the Maldives when I learned of his disappearance. He has called me several times since I’ve been at Milan, and every time I’ve always felt his incredible love for these colours. I saw him in person on the evening of the celebrations for the Scudetto in Piazza Duomo”. The first meeting had been as a footballer: “He came to the locker room to congratulate us at Verona for the 0-0 draw, I had marked Gullit. And we had spent the whole game inside our area.”