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*Sacchi: 'Juve didn't share Sarri values'*

Arrigo Sacchi maintains Maurizio Sarri at Juventus was always ‘Mission Impossible’ because ‘the directors and club always believed in different values’ to beautiful football.
Sarri was brought in to replace Max Allegri, who won five consecutive Serie A titles and reached the Champions League Final twice, to provide more creativity and entertainment.
However, he struggled to get his ideas across and was sacked after just one year, making way for debutant coach Andrea Pirlo.

“Sarri had accepted a ‘Mission Impossible’ at Juventus,” wrote Milan legend Sacchi in La Gazzetta dello Sport.
“He needed patience and collaboration from the club, but the Juventus directors always believed in different values. The house motto is: winning is the only thing that matters.
“That way you ignore factors like merit, beauty, emotion, entertainment, harmony, culture and evolution.”
The Bianconeri stars never seemed to accept or even understand Sarri’s approach to one-touch football and constant movement off the ball, an issue he also found at Chelsea.
“Sarri inherited a team that was sated and fatigued by eight consecutive Serie A titles, with an ever-increasing average age,” continued Sacchi.
“A group with many soloists who are not eager to run and fight for their teammates. It was utopian to think Sarri could bring harmony and unity to an aged squad, not accustomed to being a collective of 11 players who work both defending and attacking, who are versatile, united by an invisible belief in their football.

“In Europe, the teams that dominate tend to be collectives, with an attacking approach. In Italy, they tend to win with a defensive and individualistic football.
“Andrea Agnelli, a great President, had tried to break with the past by hiring Sarri. He tried to move towards the future, but sadly didn’t have the patience to see it through.”
 
Meanwhile, Lucas Biglia – although having now departed as his contract expires – was one of the top earners, receiving €3.5m net per year since joining in 2017.

The top earner is Gianluigi Donnarumma at €6m a year, and nobody really comes close to matching that figure, with Biglia and Zlatan Ibrahimovic (€3.5m a year) the two closest.

Simon Kjaer is on €3m per season, while the lowest earner is fellow defender Matteo Gabbia at €600k a year, though there is a question mark over whether that has taken into account his new contract signed earlier this year, which is likely to have netted him a substantial pay rise.
 
🎙️Florian Kohfeldt, Werder Bremen manager:“ We decided not to use Milot in this game due to the situation of a possible transfer.” (Via Ronan Murphy)

The player has been linked before to a move to AC Milan. 👀 https://t.co/S9rhZ8shhK
 
He is either go to leipzig or come to us. He has only two option available right now but signing him means no chiesa.
 


NEWS NEWS

Milan TV to be broadcasted globally as Rossoneri reach agreement with media agency


AC Milan’s official channel Milan TV will now be broadcast abroad after a deal was struck with Spring Media.
According to Calcio e Finanza, Milan have reached an agreement with Spring Media, who will be the exclusive international sales agent for Milan TV.
The report claims that he agency will be responsible for distributing a 8-hour weekly program which will be produced in English and will go out around 40 times a season.
The package will include full replays of matches that the men’s first team play as well as the women’s team, a weekly in-depth study called “AC Milan This Week”, interviews with players and legends and some behind the scenes content.
Spring already work with Arsenal and Chelsea in England, and they will take over the licensing responsibilities of Milan TV with immediate effect.
Now, their sales team will start talks with stakeholders with the overall goal of expanding the Milan brand and boosting the club’s commercial revenue.
Casper Stylsvig, AC Milan Chief Commercial Officer, stated: “A fundamental pillar of the commercial strategy and of AC Milan is being able to distribute our content all over the world.
“The agreement with Spring Media will allow us to reach our 400 million fans around the world with our style of communication and our language, strengthening the relationship between the club and its fans.”
 
Pirlo wants to overhaul the Juventus team. Higuain, Matuidi and at least 5 other players will leave. His main transfer targets are Sandro Tonali and Paul Pogba. [La Gazetta]
 
CM: De Paul is at the top of AC Milan's wish list. He could cover roles of Mezzala, trequartista, and winger. He earns €800K per season and that could be the reason why he could leave. Udinese ask for €35M-€40M. Milan can offer Krunic, Gabbia, or Pobega in an exchange.
 
Gazzetta: Inter are pulling back from the Milenkovic deal. Fiorentina are asking for too much cash and the Nerazzurri are now trying to sign Smalling. The defender has been, reportedly, one of AC Milan's targets for this transfer window
 
SportItalia: Fiorentina have an agreement with Empoli and will sign Samuele Ricci. The midfielder was linked to AC Milan.
 
NicoSchira: Ricardo Rodriguez is getting closer to Torino. Only few details remain to finalise the deal. Cairo, Torino's president, is confident, and offered a fee of €3M to acquire the player from Milan. A contract valid until 2023 is ready for the fullback to sign.
 
Pioli: "A letter to AC Milan fans: let's meet again as soon as possible. It is right that AC Milan returns to its levels."
 
Pioli on his points of reference:" Pep Guardiola and Jürgen Klopp. They are at the highest level. But, I take inspiration from many situations, like the inactive balls, for example, which I took from America de Cali."
 
Pioli:" Theo Hernandez was only in his first year in Italy. Bennacer was playing for the first time in a big club. Leao, with his potential, will have to necessarily give superior results. We have also Hakan, Donnarumma, Romagnoli and Kjaer. Few more targets will be enough."
 
Milan offered 25 million euros for Sandro Tonali. Brescia rejected it.

[La Gazzetta dello Sport]
 
Football agent Lorenzo De Santis: “I see Chiesa away from Florence. The right offer could be €45-50M and I am informed about a strong acceleration from Milan who are also holding discussions for Milenkovic.” [

@AndreaPropato

]
 
The Rossoneri are also in talks about Nikola Milenković. I see a very hot axis between AC Milan and Fiorentina."
 
Deulofeu does not warm the interest of the Milan management. Paolo Maldini and his colleagues are not at all considering the idea of signing the former Barcelona man to reinforce the attack, and there are three key reasons why.

At Watford, Deulofeu receives about €5.5m net per season. Moreover, the physical and muscular problems that he has suffered have often left him out of action. Therefore, Milan do not feel the need to invest in players that are not very reassuring in this sense.

Finally, it is unlikely that a winger is a priority. Milan first of all must solve sales first before looking for a right-back, a central defender and a midfielder. Only at the end of September could an attack be considered, but without haste or desire to spend. [Tuttosport]
 
*CM: Pioli makes requests as Milan target top four – at least six signings will arrive*

AC Milan will give Stefano Pioli at least six ‘gifts’ this summer ahead of the 2020-21 season, according to a report.

Calciomercato are reporting that Milan have clear ideas about their summer strategy and have already started to move in the market to satisfy the demands made by Pioli. The squad has shown that it can be competitive, but the feeling is that at least six more pieces are needed.

The priority is to secure the renewal of Zlatan Ibrahimovic, as the Swede striker is considered essential and contacts with Raiola to renew the agreement have been intense, to the extent that a signature could arrive in the next few days.

Pioli has given precise indications and basically wants the squad to be completed with signings tailored to his style of football.

The defence is the department that is likely to undergo the most changes as there are three or four players seemingly destined to be sold. A right-back should arrive as well as a left-footed centre-back and a reserve left-back.

In midfield, back-ups to Kessie and Bennacer will be needed, while the reneal of Ibra shifts the attention in attack no longer to a centre-forward, but to a winger that can either surpass Castillejo and Salemaekers on the right, or alternate with Rebic on the left.

The objective is clear: to build a squad that Pioli can guide into the Champions League.
 
*Juve risk it all with Pirlo*

Just when we thought 2020 couldn’t get any weirder, Juventus exceeded all our expectations on Saturday. Maurizio Sarri was sacked in the morning after an unconvincing Scudetto defence and elimination from the Champions League at the hands of Olympique Lyonnais. Then, in the evening, amidst all the speculation of who could possibly replace Sarri, Andrea Pirlo signed a two-year contract to succeed him, barely a week on from being named coach of the Bianconeri’s Under-23 team in his first managerial role.

Make no mistake about it, this may be the riskiest appointment Juve have ever made. Bringing in Sarri last summer was brave enough as it signalled the Old Lady’s intent to scrap the formula that delivered them a succession of Serie A titles, in favour of a more ‘modern’ approach. However, the marriage was doomed from the start. The Bianconeri failed to provide him with players suitable for his system, which didn’t mesh well with the coach’s insistence on playing his way.

Thus, the decision to dismiss the former Napoli and Chelsea boss was made before any more rot could set in. All roads seemed to lead to Mauricio Pochettino, ready-made for Juve on paper, but that would’ve been too much of a sideways step. Instead, they are putting it all on the line, entrusting Pirlo with taking them where his predecessor couldn’t. Whereas sporting director Fabio Paratici poorly tried to pass off Sarri as his ‘first choice’, he had no shortage of superlatives to describe the 41-year-old.

“The decision for Pirlo was very natural, in the Juventus style, because he is someone who as we said just over a week ago played with us, has always been in contact with everyone here and it felt natural,” explained Paratici. “We also believe he is destined for greatness. He was as a player and we think with confidence he can do the same as a coach.

“Andrea has in his mind the same approach to coaching as he does when he played. That’s football of great quality and hard work. He wants to propose a certain type of football, the kind European teams are generally trying to follow, and he was very convincing in his explanation to us.”

The most intriguing aspect of Pirlo’s appointment concerns his complete lack of experience. He becomes the latest legendary figure to manage the team they enjoyed so much success with as a player, following in the footsteps of Zinedine Zidane at Real Madrid, Pep Guardiola at Barcelona, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer at Manchester United and Frank Lampard at Chelsea. Yet the former Milan midfielder only received his UEFA Pro Licence earlier in the summer and therefore, unlike them, hasn’t served any sort of apprenticeship.

Pirlo worked as a pundit for Sky Sport Italia while taking his coaching badges and prophesised Juve’s problems after Ajax knocked them out of the Champions League two seasons ago, declaring they lacked quality in midfield and that they ‘didn’t know how to get the ball’ to Cristiano Ronaldo. Of course, being a great orator doesn’t necessarily equate to being a great coach (just ask Gary Neville), but his comments would have come as a breath of fresh air to a fan base fed up with the lack of service to Ronaldo.

Not much is known about Pirlo’s managerial philosophy at this stage, but he did recently tell fellow World Cup winner Fabio Cannavaro that 4-3-3 was his desired formation, with ‘everyone forward’ and ‘lots of possession’. He then made some revealing remarks at his U23 unveiling, professing his love for passing football but also stressing the need to win. And despite being an admirer of Sarri, the Italy icon suggested he would not be as stubborn, focusing more on getting the best out of the players available to him.

“I have a specific way of playing in my mind, it’s with ball to feet and always going for the victory,” he said. “I hated some things as a player and never want to see them again. Systems aren’t the issue, it’s about occupying the space and working with the characteristics of the players.

“I would’ve liked to play in today’s Juventus. I like Sarri’s style of football, the playmaker sees so much of the ball and I’d have really enjoyed myself. I need to explain to these lads what Juventus really means. Anyone who plays against us will want to win even more and we must prove ourselves every time.”

A two-year deal suggests Juve will not hesitate in pulling the plug on Pirlo if the job proves too much for him, but he will surely be wrapped in cotton wool with a first-class backroom team behind him. President Andrea Agnelli has high hopes for his high-stakes gamble, allegedly believing he can emulate Zidane by commanding instant respect of the squad, which includes several of his former teammates, among them Gianluigi Buffon, who at 42 is older than his new boss.

Juve’s grip on Serie A has been a given for the last nine years, but they seem prepared to lose it if it means finally winning the Champions League. It may be that the Old Lady end up with neither as a result of having Pirlo in the hotseat and cause themselves more damage in the long run compared to sticking with Sarri. For them, however, the rewards outweigh the risks. For them, Pirlo holds the best chance of ending 25 years of hurt.
 
Former Milan CEO Adriano Galliani explains why he was always confident new Juventus boss Andrea Pirlo would become a coach, unlike Ronaldinho, who ‘didn’t even care who we were playing.’

Pirlo has been appointed as the head coach at Juventus, despite having zero managerial experience and not even getting his full coaching badges yet.

“He was already a coach when he was playing,” Galliani told the Corriere dello Sport.

“If I had to use one word to define Andrea, it’d be intelligent. That adjective completely sums him up. He was always studying, too. He studied the opponents, the places we were playing, the situations… I am sure he’ll do very well at Juventus.

“We’ve had so many players come through Milan and become coaches, like Cristian Brocchi, Leonardo, Andriy Shevchenko, Massimo Oddo, Jaap Stam, Giovanni Stroppa, Alessandro Nesta, Roberto Donadoni, I’d even add Roberto De Zerbi and Roberto D’Aversa.

“People just remember Carlo Ancelotti, Clarence Seedorf, Pippo Inzaghi and Gennaro Gattuso, but there have been so many who found Milan to be a real school of football.”

If there’s a former player who Galliani does not see becoming a coach, then it’s Ronaldinho.

“He didn’t even know or care who were playing against. The day after, he’d forgotten already. It was as if the opposition was entirely irrelevant to him.

“Ronaldo didn’t study either. I remember one day before his second game for us, against Siena, he ate two large plates of pasta and used half a loaf of bread to mop up all the sauce too. Ancelotti and I said to him, Fenomeno, you know we have a game tomorrow, don’t over-do it.

“He replied: ‘The player marking me knows he’ll be dealing with Ronaldo, so it’s his problem.’ Well, he scored two goals. Phenomenal.”
 
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