RedBird Advisor Zlatan Ibrahimovic insists Gerry Cardinale ‘has put the suitable folks’ in control of Milan, however clarifies: ‘It’s not a one-man present anymore. I’m not right here to save lots of anybody. I’m right here to be taught from others and assist them give their finest.’
The previous striker was .
Though he doesn’t have an official function in Milan as a membership, Ibra has taken a number one function within the first-team administration, together with coach alternative and switch choices.
“I had promised the crew firstly: you’ll by no means see me in a go well with and tie. However the whole lot modified shortly. Do I like carrying a go well with? No. I admit it. I don’t really feel snug,” Ibrahimovic
“I’m an athlete, a sportsman. However at any time when I wish to costume how I need, Helena [his wife] seems at me and says: ‘At present you must put on a go well with.’ I reply: ‘Why?’ And she or he says: ‘As a result of you will have a press convention.’ So placed on the tie and shut up. Let’s go. However I perceive it, too: I’m not dressing to signify who I’m at this time. I’m dressing for the function I’ve: at this time I signify Milan, I signify RedBird.”
The Rossoneri sacked Paulo Fonseca in December to rent his compatriot Sergio Conceiçao, however outcomes haven’t improved a lot as Milan have been eradicated from the Champions League and are eight factors under the highest 4 in Serie A.
“Similar to on the sector, teamwork is a very powerful factor right here too,” continued Ibrahimovic.
“That’s what I instructed Gerry Cardinale once I agreed to work with him. I instructed him clearly: ‘It’s not a one-man present anymore. I’m not right here to save lots of anybody. When you assume that’s the case, let’s drop it proper now. I’m not right here to save lots of the state of affairs. I’m right here to be taught from others and assist them give their finest. Study. Assist. Teamwork.’
“I instructed Gerry, I’m most likely the one particular person in that workplace who didn’t go to Harvard. Really, I come from the streets. He laughed. He says he needs me for that purpose too.”
Cardinale, RedBird’s Founder, Managing Companion and Chief Funding Officer, clearly performed a key function in involving Ibrahimovic within the Milan mission.
Ibrahimovic: Cardinale ‘put the suitable folks in control of Milan’
“Once I stopped enjoying, I used to be 42 years outdated. I instructed myself: Hear, you must be sensible. You need to settle for that you just’re not the identical as earlier than,” Ibra recalled.
“The most important downside, the true downside each footballer has, is precisely this: accepting actuality and placing ego apart. Understanding that you just’ve handed your expiration date. I did it. I accepted it. And that’s how I discovered my peace. From that second on, I’ve been calm. And that was the toughest half.
“I wasn’t even on the lookout for one thing to do. No problem, nothing. I instructed myself: Take your time. See what occurs. Decelerate. Get used to the brand new life. And after three months, I came over the fellows right here at Milan. I talked to Furlani, the CEO. He preferred our dialog and stated to me: It’s best to meet Gerry Cardinale. So I met him. We talked. He wished to know extra about me, what I need, who I’m. To get to know me higher.
“Then he stated: ‘I need you in RedBird. Not in Milan. In RedBird. I need you to work with Milan. Carry your expertise. Study the opposite aspect of soccer, the one you don’t see on the sector. Finance, numbers, how the whole lot works.’
“Cardinale pushes. He pushes arduous. Now I perceive why he’s profitable: he by no means provides up,” Ibra added.
“He’s the true Wolf of Wall Road. He all the time will get what he needs. Ultimately, he gave me a chance I couldn’t refuse. After which my spouse additionally instructed me: If I do know you nicely, I do know that after some time, you’ll get bored. You want a problem. Go, do what you must do, and be your self. And she or he is aware of me nicely. And no, it’s not concerning the cash. As a result of Milan don’t pay me, received it? I’m not a Milan worker. I work for RedBird. However my duty is evident: to deliver Milan the place it belongs. To win.
“Cardinale may be very hooked up to Milan, he needs to succeed. Milan is completely central to RedBird’s plans. He needs to deliver Milan again to the place we need to be. In his personal approach, along with his imaginative and prescient, his ambition. And we comply with that path. He has put the suitable folks in control of Milan. And he provides you duty, however in return, he needs one easy factor: outcomes.”
Ibrahimovic returned to Milan for a second spell as a footballer in January 2020 and his affect on a younger crew, on and off the pitch, contributed to the crew’s improvement below Stefano Pioli, who received the Serie A title with the Rossoneri in 2022.
“Milan gave me happiness the primary time. And it gave it to me the second time too,” stated Zlatan.
“However I’m not doing this for private achieve. I don’t want this. I’m well-known, I don’t want cash, and I don’t want followers both. I do it for Milan, and since I wish to be taught new issues. Once I performed, the whole lot revolved round me. At present, I’m the bodyguard: if somebody has to take a shot, let it’s me. I wish to defend the crew and the membership.
I’m not afraid, as a result of I hearth again twice. So I could be the goal. I went by ten years of conflict. And when you stay by conflict within the Balkans, nobody calls to ask how you might be. You anticipate the decision, to know what’s occurring. To know if your loved ones is okay. Each day, somebody calls you crying, and also you don’t know if tomorrow they’ll nonetheless be alive. And you’ll’t do something. If somebody has lived like that for ten years, they worry nothing. As a result of that’s one thing else. That’s actual worry. And when the media discuss me? It doesn’t contact me. For 25 years as a footballer, they attacked me day-after-day. Why? As a result of I used to be the very best.”
“Milan are essentially the most well-known membership in Italy. We signify Italian soccer on this planet. DNA, mentality, pedigree,” concluded Ibrahimovic.
“The numbers are clear. Everybody talks about us. And in the event that they discuss us, it means we’re doing one thing nice. A brand new mentality. Our administration is younger, worldwide. Individuals with totally different visions, totally different ambitions: there’s starvation. And that’s unimaginable. We aren’t afraid. That is our power. We do what we consider in, with out worry, with out limits, our personal approach. We don’t have a look at others. We transfer ahead, all the time. Any wall in our approach? We break it down. And belief me: we’re rock and roll. At all times aiming for outcomes. We’re the brand new faculty.”