Andoni Iraola isn’t the only figure that Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Gerry Cardinale want for the AC Milan of the future.
This morning’s edition of La Gazzetta dello Sport reported that Cardinale has chosen Iraola as the man he wants to be Milan’s next head coach. The mission is underway to accelerate and try beat the competition from Crystal Palace above all.
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A meeting in Austria
Cardinale and Ibrahimovic were in Vienna yesterday, where they met with the Austrian national team coach, Ralf Rangnick. Yes, the same Rangnick that Ivan Gazidis wanted to bring to Milan to replace Stefano Pioli in 2020.
All Milan fans know how things went back then. Zvonimir Boban and Paolo Maldini opposed his arrival, perhaps knowing he would also ‘absorb’ their jobs, while Pioli stayed at Milan and won the Scudetto.
Six years later, Rangnick is back in the Rossoneri news as a possible candidate for the role of sporting director. For those who may have lost track of him, Rangnick managed clubs until 2022, with a disappointing stint at Manchester United in 2021-22 following positive years at Red Bull with Leipzig.
In April 2022, he became coach of the Austrian national team and qualified for the 2024 European Championships in Germany. Austria won their group ahead of France and the Netherlands, only to lose in the round of 16 to Turkey.
In the last two years, Austria has won their World Cup qualifying group ahead of Bosnia and Romania, returning to the World Cup after a 28-year absence. At 67, Rangnick will experience his first World Cup, in Group J with Argentina, Algeria and Jordan.
After that there will likely be some evaluations on the future, and could he finally end up at Milan over half a decade after the previous links?