The well-known journalist Carlo Pellegatti has shed some light on various topics connected to AC Milan such as the future of head coach Stefano Pioli and the need to sign multiple strikers in the summer.
Pellegatti spoke during an interview with MilanNews who questioned him on the key issues that are in the Milan orbit at the moment, starting with Pioli and whether he might be reaching the end of his cycle at the club amid the rumours that he is being judged through four factors.
“Since I’m not Pioli Out, then I must automatically be for Pioli in. No, it’s not like that. My fear, being a conservative, is this: Conte arrives, but we start from the assumption that Conte doesn’t come so it’s useless to say ‘let’s hope Pioli goes so Conte arrives’. No, at most ‘let’s hope Pioli goes so another coach arrives’,” he began.
“Second point: my fear is that if Thiago Motta arrives, and Bologna play really very well, it’s not so much the pressure from the environment but the very concrete fact that next year they will always play.
“Experienced coaches are already struggling, let alone a coach who has never managed double commitments [league and Europe]. It’s clear that if they keep Pioli they will look him in the face and ask him for guarantees regarding injuries, not regarding the derby that can be won or lost.
“A provocation: we have the strength to take Possanzini who is doing well in Mantua and seems to be the new De Zerbi? If we have that strength that Silvio Berlusconi had when we took Sacchi, then it’s fine.
“I also read about people who would like to sack him [Pioli] if Milan win the Europa League: I don’t know what he did to them… If Milan finish second and wins the Europa League, I don’t know what more you want. Do you know what the real problem is? That Inter are ahead by 14 points, if it were Napoli, nobody would care.”
As a follow-up, Pellegatti was asked about the notion that keeping Pioli but not extending his deal – which is currently set to expire in June 2025 – might be a mistake because he would coach next season with that hanging over his head.
“Pioli is coming to an end, his adventure is over. Then if we combine the league and the Champions League [winning both], maybe they’ll still keep him. But let’s not exaggerate now, we’ll have another good year.
“Otherwise, the news I have: Pioli won’t go to another club in Italy. If he were let go, he would stay at home and Milan pay him. And the following year he will look for another adventure.”
The journalist was questioned on the issue of needing to sign a new centre-forward amid the reports circulating that Joshua Zirkzee is the man that the management have decided to focus on.
“Look, Zirkzee on a technical level is not the ideal one for Milan, because maybe someone with Giroud’s characteristics would be needed. But he’s so delightful, he amazes in his play, he’s fun. He’s really a good player.
“If you take Zirkzee, However, who do you put next to him? Let’s be clear about whether Milan’s next attack is Zirkzee-Jovic-Okafor, no. If it is Zirkzee-Giroud? Yes, but we need another player, young in age but strong, a Boniface before he becomes Boniface [Bayer Leverkusen striker].
“We need three, next year we will always play at the highest level. Zirkzee-Jovic and Okafor is not good. Zirkzee and another with Okafor being the third? Exactly.”
Pellegatti was asked for his feelings on the quarter-final draw in the Europa League, which pits the Rossoneri against a side they know very well in Roma, who have enjoyed a resurgence under Daniele De Rossi.
“The loss of Kalulu was a terrible loss. It’s no coincidence that Milan played a good, authoritative game in Verona with Kalulu and Tomori. With them the whole management of the match changes, we play more forward. Theo’s performance also improved and as he has nothing to fear behind him.
“If Milan repeat the match against Verona or Atalanta, they will also compete against Liverpool. If instead they repeat the first half like this and like that against Lazio or perhaps a stuttering match like the one against Empoli, then you can also lose against West Ham.
“If Milan play well, I don’t care about anyone. Good means sometimes aesthetically, sometimes head-wise: they have won 12 out of 17.”
Finally, he touched on the fluctuating season of Rafael Leao who has been much better in 2024 and scored a lovely goal for Portugal over the current international break.
“Leao seems to me to have started on the path of being a champion. Even after the match against Sweden, A Bola called him ‘a poisonous snake’. He is perhaps making that leap in quality which he will definitively make when he scores that goal he missed in Verona, so to speak.
“A player who is serenely moving towards 140 million in value. A unique player. We have two of them in this moment: Theo Hernandez and Leao.
“There aren’t many players who are up to these and there aren’t many unique players. There aren’t any like those. Then maybe there are better ones but they are part of the elite of unique players.”
