After a rather disappointing season of AC Milan, which ended in a 5th place finish in Serie A, the former European powerhouse decided it’s time for a complete overhaul of the team, which is expected to bring it back to former glory. One of the first steps is replacing the head coach, Gennaro Gattuso, who failed to bring the team to Champions League.
FERRARA, ITALY – MAY 26: Gennaro Gattuso head coach of AC Milan gestures during the Serie A match between Spal and AC Milan at Stadio Paolo Mazza on May 26, 2019 in Ferrara, Italy. (Photo by Tullio M. Puglia/Getty Images)
Gennaro Gattuso, one of AC Milan legends, who spent the majority of his career as Rossoneri found himself as a head coach of Milan U19 team only 4 years after his football career ended. Gattuso stayed with Milan U19 team from summer of 2017 up to the end of the season, when he got offered a position of a head coach of Milan senior team. While holding a position as a head coach of AC Milan, Gennaro Gattuso managed to hold a 48.19% win rate with a 40-23-20 record, which he managed to achieve in the course of two years coaching his former team. However, after a rather disappointing season with AC Milan, once again failing to reach a Champions League spot, Gennaro Gattuso found himself at the exit doors and is reportedly already decided to leave the team.
Looking at 2018/19 season of AC Milan, the team performed well. In fact, the Rossoneri players very well and found themselves in the top 5 only 10 rounds into the season. AC Milan managed to climb even further and held onto the 4th spot, where they remained up to the 33rd round of Serie A. At that point, AC Milan only had to hold on to the 4th place finish for 5 more rounds, but as we know now, AC Milan failed to do that. Furthermore, Milan fell to 7th place in the 34th round but luckily got themselves back to 5th place, which will at least send them to Europa League in 2019/20 season. With yet another disappointing season, it should not come off as a surprise Gatusso handed his resignation and will leave the team for one last time. But before he signed the last signature, Gattuso had one last request.
Had Gattuso been sacked, Milan would need to pay him €11 million and while this is a large sum of money, Gattuso instead insisted he will not accept the money, but rather requested that chief executive Ivan Gazidis uses the money to pay 2 years’ worth of salaries to his backroom staff, who will, just like Gattuso, leave the club. A rather nice gesture from Gattuso, however not the first time we have seen a head coach that resigned do something like that.
That now leaves the question of who will replace Gennaro Gattuso wide open. As revealed by SempreMilan.com, the man for the job will be Marco Giampaolo, who helped Sampdoria reach 9th spot in Serie A. What is even more interesting is that Sampdoria president Ferrero has been in contact with Gattuso, which could mean the clubs will simply switch coaches. Marco Giampaolo, while being one of the candidates, is not 100% to become AC Milan next coach. With Jardin and Inzhagi also a perfectly good option as a new head coach of AC Milan, we will have to wait for an official report to know for sure who will be the man to help Milan reach former glory next season.
