One year at Milan: Fassone talks Mr. Li, Gattuso’s renewal, transfers and the future of the club
A year after the club ownership transfer from Silvio Berlusconi to Yonghong Li, CEO Marco Fassone was interviewed by La Gazzetta dello Sport, discussing these first 365 days and also the future of AC Milan.
On the first year: “At the management level I thought I would have some more difficulties because it was our first year and many things were changing. Instead, very good responses came from the people inside the club, a more positive reaction than expected by the fans, which was not for granted, and even if there is some regret for the first part of the season below expectations we found the right course latter“.
On Yonghong Li: “He loves Milan a lot, he’s a fan since he was a boy. I met him fifteen days ago in London for financial reasons and I can assure you that he is not just in charge of the business. He knows who plays, he wanted to know everything about Gattuso. He is a president who participates in all aspects, who trusts his management on a daily basis and asks for reports. Then looks at the results in the end. As far as I know, I think he is calm and eager to be president of Milan and carry out the project. It’s true that he wants to be supported by some new partners if possible. But I do not want to appear indelicate, these are questions that concern him: mine are only impressions“.
On the renewal of Gattuso: “It was a choice of Mirabelli and mine, he has convinced us for a thousand reasons and we have entrusted him with a medium-long project that allows him to fully express the cycle of a club that is being reborn. A deserved unconditional trust, even Mr. Li is convinced that he is the right man to bring us back where we want to return“.
On the summer transfer market: “Milan will have a consolidation of the squad. About 80-90% of the players have meet or exceeded out expectations. However, we could not have spent 240 million if we hadn’t made several sales and a series of real capital gains, on non-simple players. Mirabelli did a great job. Progressive corrections will follow this year: fans can expect 2-3 new players at critical roles“.
On top players sale: “Numbers in hand, at a financial level we have no obligation to sell any player but having discussed the issue with sports director Mirabelli and the coach, I can say that there will be entries and exits“.
On Donnarumma: “From all of us there is total trust on him, he is one of the pillars of the team and in our head Gigio will be the goalkeeper of AC Milan for a long time“.
