The waltz of the coaches, the set of music chairs of the attackers … Each summer transfer window stages a dance dance between all the European clubs. A departure implies an arrival and sometimes it takes the form of a play in rhythm. Already last summer, Ligue 1 had known this music with the departure of Florent Ghislofi to AS Roma, which had launched a large domino effect thus bringing Florian Maurice to Nice, the pair Arnaud Pouille -Frédéric Massara in Rennes, the duo Pierre Dréossi – Diego López in Lens, while a suspense hovered around Grégory Lorenzi Brestois. In Italy too, chance made the departure of Cristiano Giuntoli for Juventus had been filled by the arrival of Giovanni Manna, former leader of the Bianconeri, in Naples. Sometimes little known, the role of a sports director is essential, even more in modern football. A sports director in football is responsible for the sports management of a club. Its main role is to define and supervise the sports strategy in collaboration with the coach and the management of the club. He identifies, negotiates the arrival and departure of the players according to the needs of the team and the budget of the club, sets up a long -term vision to ensure its competitiveness, ensures the development of young talents to ensure continuity between the youth teams and the first team, and also facilitates the working conditions of the coach, while ensuring the consistency of the workforce. It is a strategic pillar which acts as a link between management and the field, guaranteeing the stability and performance of a club in the long term.
Context put in place, let's get to the heart of the matter. If some stables are preparing to experience a very eventful summer on all floors, others conversely will be able to sleep on their two ears by preparing now, in the middle of March, the great summer strategy to be respected in May. Especially since the football planet will experience a very short inter-season, accelerating the transition to the next campaign, since the Club World Cup, which will take place in the United States from June 14 to July 13, will force sports directors to work on a short timing in this very busy calendar. Fortunately for some clubs, there will be a little respite in the coming weeks. In Germany, for example, the offices of the Bundesliga mastodons are likely to experience a status with the Sebastian Kehl – Lars Riercen duo at Borussia Dortmund, the christoph Freund – Max Eberl pair in Bayern Munich. In Leverkusen too, Simon Rolfes, a large strategist of the epic, should hold his rank even if Xabi Alonso's departure. The RB Leipzig should continue with its unique system around Marcel Schäfer, Mario Gomez, Sebastian Schuppan and Daniel Baier (without forgetting Jürgen Klopp as an external advisor). No movement either to note on the side of Real Madrid and FC Barcelona. In England, Liverpool changed sports director recently with the signing of Richard Hughes. Same story in Italy with Cristiano Giuntoli at Juventus, Angelo Mariano Fabiani at Lazio, Florent Ghislofi in Roma and Giovanni Manna in Naples, without forgetting Giuseppe Marotta, Javier Zanetti, Piero Ausilio and Dario Baccin at Inter Milan. But for other European Big Five clubs, everything could be different.
It's AC Milan bazaar!
It is a secret of a polichinelle, but AC Milan is going through a crisis on all floors. Moreover, as we revealed to you exclusively last week, a real internal war has taken place for several weeks between the president and chief executive officer Giorgio Furlani and the sports advisor of Redbird Zlatan Ibrahimovic. Everyone pushes internally to bring their strong man back. According to our information, the Milanese management is more than ever divided into several camps. Whether on the future of Sérgio Conceição, the profile of the future DS or the management to be taken in the coming weeks, Giorgio Furlani and Zlatan Ibrahimović were dried up. The relationships between the two men are quite tense. Indeed, while Furlani and the majority of assistants push for Fabio Paratici, Milan priority, as we revealed to you exclusively, Ibrahimović contacted Igli Tare, close friend of the former striker of PSG and FC Barcelona. As a reminder, Zlatan had already managed to place his friend Jovan Kirovski in the Milanese organization chart. In the middle of the two leaders, technical director Geoffrey Moncada tries to store his compatriot and friend François Modesto. To turn off the fire, the latter tried to offer other profiles capable of satisfying as many people as possible, such as Tony d'Amico, currently DS of Atalanta.
There Gazzetta dello Sport Even added a new profile to the list this Sunday morning. Indeed, Thiago Scuro, which makes the heyday of AS Monaco, also appeals to Giorgio Furlani. His ability to recruit players in the age of age to relaunch like Balogun, Zakaria and Kehrer, doubled with his talent to develop young nuggets such as Akliouche, Singo and Ben Seghir, allows Thiago Scuro to appear high enough on the list of Rossoneri. Without forgetting that the Brazilian leader was able to find more unknown profiles like Ilenikhena from Antwerp and Dortmund Brunner. A young and lasting market in the pure style that Milan is looking for. Long and exhausting discussions for Youssouf Fofana last summer were exhausting and marked Furlani. The latter has also received good news from the United States. The CEO of AC Milan met the owner Gerry Cardinale in New York to clarify his centrality and his operational role in the strategic choices that will be used to relaunch the club after a season punctuated by a error fair. He asked and obtained the responsibility to choose the new sports director as well as the new coach.
Complex situations in England
If Liverpool is rather quiet, this is not the case for all the major Premier League clubs, starting with the city of Manchester which will experience great movements. Whether it is United or City, it cannot be said that the City of Red Devils and Cityzens have been very successful during this season. In this sense, Pep Guardiola will have to deal with a brand new sports director from the next transfer window. As announced for several months, Txiki Begiristain, Sports Director of Cityzens since 2012, will leave the club at the end of the season. His successor is already known since October since it is Hugo Viana, former Sporting CP, who will officiate in this position. With the extension of one year of Pep Guardiola, the Sky Blues will be able to start their major project despite the loss of Txiki Begrist, very close friend and historic right arm of Guardiola. The situation is nevertheless much less clear on the side of the red rival. Indeed, the Red Devils dismissed Dan Ashworth only five months after his arrival. He had left his post in Newcastle to join MU, shortly after the formalization of the arrival of ineos. For the moment, the Mancunian management is occupied Omar Berrada, executive director, and Jason Wilcox, technical director. The arrival of a new DS is not to be excluded, while the English press talks about Mikel Gonzalez, currently at Athletic Bilbao.
In London too, the situations are quite moving. On the Arsenal side, Edu made the decision last November, leaving enough time to the Gunners to get in search of his successor. And after several months, the management of Arsenal decided to set its sights on the Italian Andrea Berta, who was also on the tablets of PSG, Manchester United and AC Milan. The Italian, free for January after 12 years in this post at Atlético Madrid, was preparing for a position in the Premier League by taking English lessons in London. It is considered as a central figure in Atlético's success, by being a clever operator on the transfer market and is estimated throughout Europe not only for its capacity to achieve a significant profit on players, but also to surpass its rivals with greater resources. A few kilometers from the Emirates Stadium, in the spans of Stamford Bridge, Chelsea is in a particular situation since the blues have a duet composed of Paul Winstanley and Laurence Stewart, who left Brighton and Monaco respectively in 2022 and 2023. The position is therefore not officially vacant but with a new season potentially without trophy won, the owner Todd Boehly could rage. So you will have to keep an eye on Chelsea.
The mystery at PSG
The future of Luis Campos, the sports advisor of the capital's club, remained very vague. Under contract until 2025, he still did not know if he would be extended, especially since PSG has already surveyed Andrea Berta, former sports director of Atlético de Madrid, for a possible succession. The fault of a halftone assessment between successes (Barcola, João Neves) and failures (Skriniar, Ugarte) and initial doubts of Nasser Al-Khelaïfi. The President of PSG himself emerged from silence to approach the future of his sports advisor: “Luis Campos is very happy in Paris. I’m very happy with what Luis Campos has been doing since he’s here. I want him to extend his contract with PSG. Since I was president, I have never felt such an osmosis between a sports director and his trainer ”he explained to the media. Approached by two major Premier League clubs and Saudi Arabia, with a view to the World Cup organized in 2034, Luis Campos also has other solicitations, but this speech by its president seemed to announce that his future would be good in Paris.
But everything goes very quickly in football and between a real truth and a simple communication, the border is fine. Difficult for the moment to be sure about the future of Campos at PSG, as uncertainty continues to hover. While Luis Enrique recently extended his lease with the capital's club until June 2027 and several executives (Hakimi, Vitinha, Nuno Mendes …) have also sworn loyalty to the Reds and Bleus, the Portuguese strategist is still in the blur. Frustrated with not always imposing his vision, especially on the recruitment of a advanced attacker, the PSG football advisor sees his role evolving in a club where Luis Enrique now has full powers. What put his future into play in the city of Light? It is undoubtedly too early to say, although negotiations are slowed today by a financial disagreement. In Paris as in other teams, the names available could reshape the cards on the market: Antonio d'Ottavio, Edu, Paolo Maldini, Hasan Salihamidzic, Rafael Alkorta or Mauro Leo.
