Furlani discusses Pioli’s future, Ibrahimovic’s role, summer window and idea of big sale

AC Milan CEO Giorgio Furlani has addressed a number of topics related to the future of the club, from Stefano Pioli’s position as head coach to the possibility of stars being sold and what will happen in the summer mercato.

Milan are right in the middle of a season-defining period given that there is the second leg of the Europa League quarter-final against Roma coming up, then the derby against Inter on Monday and the trip to face Juventus after that.

There continues to be a lot of speculation regarding what will happen when the curtain is drawn on 2023-24 though, such as a potential change in coach and the possibility that there could be alterations to the management as well.

Furlani was a guest on ‘Supertele’, the Monday evening DAZN talk show hosted by Pierluigi Pardo, and he addressed a number of key topics. MilanNews relayed his comments.

Giorgio, a big week is approaching…

“A key week both as a fan and as a manager. They are two important matches that we face with optimism. Fingers crossed.”

What is your opinion on the season?

“Too soon. Let’s see this last month. We are doing well compared to last year. We are 12 points ahead compared to a year ago. It’s a shame that we exited the Champions League, but the group was difficult.

“We always start with the intention to win. That’s our job to give the coach the most competitive team possible to reach certain goals.

“The truth is that we can’t do that every year, like against Borussia Dortmund in the return game the outcome was influenced by injuries. The Champions League is a regret, but we will do everything to do better next year.”

What can you tell us about the transfer plans?

“The philosophy is to improve the team. Last year we made a lot of changes because it was necessary to change the team a bit, this year it will be a more targeted job because the foundations are there. It is not right to say that we only aim for young players or a specific type.

“The work we do as other clubs do, is to look at various criteria. When we analyse potential purchases, we start from scouting which is obviously very important, there is the data that is talked about a lot which helps us in the choice – an important ingredient even if it does not provide the solution in itself – we look at the medical history and the personality of the player, in addition obviously to the financial theme.

“These are all elements for choosing a player, even if there aren’t necessarily characteristics at the start that tell you only about this or that type.”

Milan’s revenues have grown recently…

“We are around 400 million or so. How much can that grow? A complicated question. It certainly depends on the activity we do and therefore on the work we do with our partners.

“It partly depends on the UEFA competitions – how far we are progressing – and from the work we do with Serie A, not only as Milan but together with the other 19 clubs to increase the turnover of Serie A especially at a media level.

“And then there is the stadium part which is very important: today we have San Siro as a stadium and we are focusing on this to make it a better experience for our fans, who knows tomorrow.”