It was announced earlier in the week that Ibrahimovic would be leading a media briefing and a press conference, his first as a Senior Advisor to RedBird Capital and the Milan management since his return to the club late last year.
He spoke in front of around 70 journalists at Milanello and the event began with a question and answer session on stage with one of the Milan TV journalists, and then the questions were opened up to the floor.
You can watch in full via the video below, while his words were transcribed by MilanNews as he addressed Gerry Cardinale’s call to bring him back, what his role is and the new era that the club are heading into after Stefano Pioli’s exit.
Tell us about your return to AC Milan…
“I can start by saying that after six months my hair has already gone grey. We work. After my retirement from football, you have another freedom. Freedom of life, in doing things, then I have two children. I was away from the family for a long time, because in football there is this sacrifice.
But not negatively, you spend a lot of time on football. When you stop, it is important that the mind is active. I went on like this, then I got a call from Giorgio Furlani who said ‘Come to Milanello, say hello’. From there we see, I knew nothing.
“It was all in friendship, for what I did, the story. From there we went forward, I had my first meeting with Gerry Cardinale. We just talked, me and him, a meeting lasting a few hours. He asked me about life, what I thought I would do now.
“He made me the proposal to return to Milan, as an operating partner for RedBird. I explained to Gerry: ‘If I have to join Milan it must be a winning project’. I don’t accept losing, I have to and want to win. And I will win.
Gerry replied ‘Welcome to the club’. We have the same ambition. We started from there and after 6 months my hair is gray but we take it step by step. I feel strong. We talked a lot before starting this adventure. I met the person and we speak the same language, we have the same thoughts.
“Gerry is a winner: he wants to get there, have his way, with ambition. We need to create a winning project, not only for the present but also in the long term. I said ‘Gerry I’m the perfect man’. But always with intelligence. We started from there but with ambition.”
What does your role consist of?
“It’s simple. Many ask, but I am an operating partner of RedBird, I work close to Cardinale, but also at Milan in close contact with Moncada, Furlani. They are not one-man shows because everyone is important, they have their responsibilities. Like a team.”
What is the next step for Milan?
“The next step is to strengthen the team to make it even stronger and be competitive for the objectives we have, namely trophies. Not only in Italy but also in Europe, because Milan’s history is also in Europe. From 2011 to 2023 the story was not like Milan.
“Milan don’t win, they make history: this is the difference with the others. You have to be this thinking, this mindset and these goals. Nobody said we were satisfied. We finished second, we didn’t do well in the Europa League, we agree with the fans that we are not satisfied.
“After the season an evaluation is made, but here there is no limit. The sky is the limit. We want to improve and be stronger than we are today.”
Are you optimistic for the future?
“I am very optimistic and positive. We have a group with young leaders, they are hungry. They want to make a difference. We have our strategy, our plan. It’s not because you lose a match that you panic. We are confident in what we do. We follow our strategy, the future is positive.
“Then everyone does this job for Milan, not for personal objectives. But not just in words, I don’t want to make promises that I don’t want to keep: we want to demonstrate it, we work every day.”
You have an announcement to make about the new head coach…
“I want to say thanks to Pioli for what he did to Milan on behalf of the club, the owners. I had him as a player. What he did with Milan remains. He deserves all the compliments that he has had and that he will have. The new Milan coach will be Paulo Fonseca. We have studied well, we have set the criteria on what we are looking for, on what we want, with many thoughts. He will bring his identity to the players we have, to how we want the team to play.
“We wanted to bring, after five years of Pioli, something new to the players. We studied it, we also wanted to bring something new to San Siro. With these players we have, it matches as much as possible. He is the right man, we are confident and we believe in him a lot.”
Are Milan aiming for a new striker? How far along are the Zirkzee talks?
“If we talk about the team, if we look at a year ago, where my colleagues did a great job bringing 12 players with a big mercato, the strategy was to lay the base. This market will be more than details to improve the team and the role on the pitch.
One of them is number 9, after Olivier is free. There is Jovic but there is room for another. It’s a role we’re looking for. Zirkzee is a strong player, he has potential, he had a great season. The rumours going around are quite distant from the reality, whether we are close or far away.
“Is Zirkzee like me? I don’t like comparing players, he not only plays well but he plays very well. He comes from the Dutch school of football like me. Then I don’t know whether he is another Ibra or not, I’m Zlatan and he’s Zirkzee.”
Is the mission to get the second star next season?
“With Gerry we speak the same language. I wouldn’t have come in here if I didn’t believe in this ambition and this winning project. The team always needs players who compete. There is a team that starts and then evaluates itself at the end of the season.
“If you are the favourite it doesn’t mean you will win. The goal is to win, everything we do is to aim to create a very competitive team to win trophies. We are here to make history.
“There is no guarantee like in life, but we work to achieve our goals. We want to do things intelligently and be smart. I’d like to add: we are thinking about the third star, let alone the second.”
How close was Lopetegui to joining?
“The name of a coach was in the newspapers every day. Moncada wanted one, Ibra another, Cardinale another, the fans another and Furlani another. Fonseca is reality. There are names put on the table, which we discussed. Then between Lopetegui and Fonseca it was more towards Fonseca.”
Why was the choice made to go for Fonseca?
“When we decided to leave Pioli, we immediately started thinking about next year. We wanted a good end for Pioli, who deserved it. We spoke to Fonseca, otherwise it would have been strange. Every day we talk, we share ideas and strategies.
“He has the desire for him in the dialogue with us, the idea of how to improve the collective. We also have an Under 23 project which will be very important for us.
We want to connect Under 23s with the first team and Fonseca’s role will be important because he gives importance and responsibility to young players. Small details we are discussing. We will compete for four trophies next year, but it’s not just the coach that counts but also the team.”
How do you feel in your new role?
“I don’t know how many former players, when they retired, who had a chance like this. I have to get used to the fact that it is different from being a player. I have to be meaner, even if he [a player] is a friend, because you have to think of the good of Milan.
