It had been expected for several days and it is now official: the Portuguese coach, Paulo Fonseca, leaves LOSC and Ligue 1 after two good seasons with the Mastiffs and joins AC Milan where he will return to the Serie pitches Following his first experience at AS Roma. The native of Nampula in Portuguese Mozambique has accepted a three-year contract expiring in June 2027. The importance of taking the reins of a historic club, the project proposed by the Milanese management and the characteristics of the players in the squad capable of adapting to his tactical idea weighed heavily on the choice of coach.
“First of all, I would like to thank Stefano Pioli on behalf of the whole club. I also had him as a player and he made history. He deserves all the compliments. The new coach will be Paulo Fonseca. We thought about it carefully, we chose it for its identity. But also for the way the team will play, offensively and dominating. We wanted to bring something new after five years on the pitch and also at San Siro. With these players, Fonseca is the right man. We are very confident and we believe in it a lot”, launched Zlatan Ibrahimovic at a press conference. The Milanese management structured around American owner Gerry Cardinale had their work cut out to find the successor to Stefano Pioli, dismissed after several seasons marked by a Scudetto in 2022. Indeed, the names (Antonio Conte, Oliver Glasner, Julen Lopetegui , Thiago Motta, Mark van Bommel, Sérgio Conceição…) have followed one another in recent weeks before agreeing on a consensus with Paulo Fonseca. He will receive a lower salary than Pioli, i.e. 2.5 million euros plus bonuses of up to 3 million euros according to several Italian newspapers.
Milan, rather than Marseille
Highly requested in the coaches’ match, Paulo Fonseca finally chose the Rossoneri. Milan management explored and evaluated different coaching profiles before deciding, collectively, to focus on Fonseca. The Lusitanian, who during his career also coached Shakhtar Donetsk, Sporting Braga and FC Porto, declined Lille’s renewal offer and rejected Olympique de Marseille, who also offered him a higher salary. high, to reach Milan. Another element would have played a role in the choice of Fonseca: the fact of being able to add value.
From now on, LOSC has entrusted its bench to Bruno Genesio to take over from Paulo Fonseca who left the northern club in a very good position. For the Portuguese, no time to waste since his first mission will be to convince the fans and in particular the Milanese ultras who boycotted the 38th and final day of Serie A to oppose the rumor of Paulo Fonseca. This time, the Milanese leaders structured around Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Giorgio Furlani did not want to listen to their supporters as during the Lopetegui case which had suffered the same popular outcry.
