Moncada offers update on renewals, relationship with Ibrahimovic and Fonseca decision | OneFootball

Geoffrey Moncada sat down to give a rare interview earlier today, and he addressed the current renewals AC Milan are trying to complete alongside other topics.

There are many opposing viewpoints for Moncada and his role at Milan. Some believe he has brought in several interesting talents that have been successful, whereas others believe that his time with the Rossoneri has seen more misses than hits.

Looking at the most recent mercato is a good example. The signings of Alvaro Morata, Youssouf Fofana, Emerson Royal, Strahinja Pavlovic and Tammy Abhram serve as the most notable additions made, and arguments can be made – and often are – about the quality and purpose of each move.

Reports suggested earlier this year that this season would be vital for his future at the club, and today, he spoke at length to Milan News about several things, including how the club decided on appointing Paulo Fonseca in the summer.

What is an average day like at Milanello?

“I immediately have a meeting with my team, both about the day’s programme and the week’s programme. We talk with Zlatan, with Kirovski about all the things we have to do. Also with the team manager.

“We talk about the games we’ve seen and a lot. We have a young group that needs to be looked after. It’s important to talk to them not only about football but also about things that happen to them or that they need off the pitch. To help them.

“Milanello is the home of our sporting side, where there is also Milan Futuro.”

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Does it also help to understand the mood a little and establish a human relationship?

“Yes, we do that. It’s a young group that needs closeness, to talk. Also about other things, not just football. We try to do this with the coach and with Zlatan, also with all the managers. It’s important. We work together every day, we have a good team, we’re young, we’re hungry, we want to do more and there’s a lot more to do.”

Looking at ages, Milan have a very young management team: you are 37, Zlatan 43, Furlani 45. Do you feel you are a breath of fresh air in a system where many directors are well over 50-55 years of age?

“There is a good mix. There’s someone like me who comes from the world of scouting and player relations, there’s a finance man like Giorgio who is a real crack on the economic side and then there’s Zlatan who has the point of view of the former great footballer.

“I think that only if we all work together can we do things well, an individual alone cannot do it. All the top clubs in Europe work like that.”

What is your relationship with Ibrahimovic like?

“We talk every day. We see each other at Casa Milan, at Milanello, we go to eat together. We have a good relationship, very direct. He wants to know things without wasting time, I like that. We are together every day.”

Do you also discuss players to sign?

“Yes, he likes it too. Now I have opened a profile for him on a professional platform for data and video analysis, so he can also see the players.”

But to sign Morata, who has brought you so much in the way of leadership, you didn’t need any algorithms.

“This is the perfect example of ‘no algorithm’. We signed the captain of the Spanish national team, who has won everything and who has also already played in Italy. I was totally convinced about Alvaro, I was sure he was the perfect guy for us. He has an important mentality in the locker room, as a leader.”

Did you make the first call to the player?

“No. First I heard from the agent, that there is also this work to be done [laughs]. Zlatan then spoke to the player because he knew him, and then we talked together. I like this example because it doesn’t come from data. He scored 22 goals last year at Atletico Madrid. For us, he is still a very very interesting player. I am happy, he feels very good here.”

Photo by AC Milan

Where are we with the renewals of Theo Hernandez and Maignan?

“We started the discussions two months ago. I can say that we are well placed. I don’t know which one will be first but we have started very well. Everyone is really happy, I haven’t seen anyone who wants to leave. You can ask them, they are all happy here at Milan.”

As Reijnders confirmed in recent days…

“I repeat: they are happy at Milan. We are working. We have to try to close the things we have open.”

And renewals are also the result of how well you make a player feel…

“Exactly, there’s not just the pitch part. We have to put them in the best possible condition to do well, but also build a direct relationship with us. With me and Zlatan they have no problems.

“True, we are young in terms of age, but with us they can talk directly and quickly. We can discuss and we are here to help the team.”

Today you are a technical director, but you were born as a scout. How much of that role is still in you and in this Milan team?

“When I was chief scout, almost every weekend I was out watching matches. In Italy or abroad. Now I can’t be away all that time because I have other responsibilities and, for example, if we play on Saturday, I travel on Sunday to see a game.

“I want to see the players in detail, that’s why I try to move silently. To avoid creating pressure on the boy I want to see him live so I can evaluate many things.”

When Milan need a player, what are the steps?

“First of all, we start with the analysis of our team and the areas to develop and improve. We don’t just use the algorithm as has been narrated for so long. That is not true. We have a database that helps you see players from other countries.

“You can be the greatest scout in the world, but you cannot see all the leagues. The data helps you to identify profiles and give you input on certain players, young or old, and can tell you that there are profiles that fit your search in other leagues.”

Photo by Claudio Villa/AC Milan via Getty Images

When you talk about the Milan market you talk about data, you talk about algorithms, you talk about moneyball. Do you rely totally on these tools or do you also work a lot on the field?

“The data tells you if there is an interesting player to watch. And we watch him first on video, with all the scouts watching him, and then maybe go and see him live. But before we go and see him on the pitch, we have to get to know the player.”

How many people in your team work on this?

“I have ten scouts at my disposal, five who are in Italy and five who are abroad.”

Do they bring you a ‘package’ on the ready-made player or do they specialise in pointing out a profile that you then go and see?

“It’s a mix of many things. We have a methodology of working on the video part, they have a specific area to look at. First they watch the player on video for the whole week, then at the weekend they go to see him live to confirm or not the impressions.”

From there you go and see him live too?

“Yes, I try.”

Before you buy a player you have to have seen him live, right?

“Yes. Impossible to sign a player without first seeing him live. However, I have a lot of trust in my scouts, we have to have it to work together. Maybe I like a player a lot, but maybe nine scouts tell me no, that he is not good.

“It’s important that we all agree together. Seeing them live is important, you see many things… On video you discover many things, but fundamental aspects such as speed, impact in duels… you don’t judge those on video.”

Do you also take into consideration how they train?

“Yes. For example, years ago I went to Strasbourg to see Youssouf Fofana live, because the training was open. Today, on the other hand, it is very difficult to go to a training ground. It’s good to watch training, but it also depends on what kind of training you go to see. If you go after a game [with the team only doing a light session] it doesn’t help you.”

And what did you notice about Fofana that had impressed you?

“I had seen a young man who had a lot of confidence, who worked hard in training. Then his relationship with the fans was also interesting, he is a guy who is always smiling and open. I liked him, it was his first year at Strasbourg in Ligue 1: he was a starter straight away, and he didn’t go through the youth sector first. It was interesting to see how he trains.”

So when did Fofana’s name first appear in your databases?

“I arrived in January 2019 at Milan, Fofana I had already seen when I was at Monaco, he played in the second team at Strasbourg. I brought my database to Milan and we followed him. He started to play a lot of games in Ligue 1: there it starts to be difficult because German and English clubs also arrived. However, we followed him all the way to Monaco.”

Did Leao already enter your database from Sporting’s youth team?

“Yes, I remember seeing him against Belenenses for Lisbon. I think he was 17 years old. He played as a number 10, as a second forward. He was very free, I saw a very interesting profile: tall, long-limbed, and technically super.

“He scored goals with incredible confidence. He was to be watched. Then obviously many other scouts saw him, I’m certainly not the first one to see him. But you know, you go and watch a U17 game in Portugal and you see a guy like that, you follow him straight away.”

And then in 2019 he arrived at AC Milan? Did you sign him? Can you explain how that happened?

“We made a shortlist, there was a need to get a new left-winger. There were good names (laughs). There was Leao, there was Malen, there was Marcus Thuram who was at Guingamp… There was this kind of profile, physical.

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“Today Leao, Malen and Thuram are playing at a high level and doing well. But four to five years ago it was not so obvious. Leao played at Lille and had only been a starter for six months and we brought him to Milan.

“It’s not easy… In general you are always very hard on players but for me you always have to give them some time.”

The AZ director said that Reijnders is a strong player, and everyone slept on him except Milan. How did you get there?

“There are aspects, sometimes, that instil doubt in you. Reijnders took a long time to get to a high level. He didn’t play immediately at AZ: he was in the second team and went on loan. So you ask yourself why at AZ, which normally puts good players on the pitch straight away, did he not play? That was our question.

“But he was obviously in our database: we created videos, we analysed the data, and there were many reports where we always saw him well. He didn’t do bad and he didn’t do top things. He always did well.

“But the last one at AZ he played in the Conference League: I saw him against Lazio, I also went to see him against West Ham… And there I said to myself that this player knows how to do everything, he runs a lot, technically he is good.

“He is always positive, he always goes forward. I liked his profile, I thought we could bring him to Milan and then see how he would develop. In June we had a meeting with Stefano Pioli, at his home in Parma.

“He told me straight away that he needed a midfielder with quality, a number 8 as a director, a versatile profile. So I showed him Reijnders, and Stefano immediately told me he liked him. From there we moved forward quickly in the negotiations.”

And this year he is also scoring…

“I think he can get to 10 goals easily. But he can also get assists, which are just as important. Everyone talks about goals, true, but finding the last pass is also important.”

And so it’s back to the data again… How much do they help you analyse the performance of individuals and the team?

“With the coach, we look at the team’s phases and we use data: how we press, what kind of pressing we do, Expected Goals [which measures the probability of a shot becoming a goal], Expected Assist [which measures the probability of a pass becoming an assist], all the chances we create to get a goal, why we didn’t score… There’s a mix of video and data. We do this kind of work every week to understand what goes well and what doesn’t go well.”

Does this type of work also help you to understand which player makes sense for him to stay at AC Milan to continue on a path and who, on the other hand, perhaps can’t give anything else?

“I’ll give you an example. Over a period of two months, you may think a guy has done badly, but you still want to check the data. So you see that maybe he hasn’t done well but nevertheless he has created a lot of things.

“That helps you because you realise that at least he is doing something. There are players who even from the data do nothing, zero. They don’t try dribbling, shots, duels. So the data helps you, yes. But the thing that is impossible to see with data is the margin of growth of a player.

“How he develops after two to three years, that’s hard to predict. It’s an unknown, that’s why the coach, the staff, the scouts who watch the players live are important. Watching him live, maybe you understand that he can improve, he can put on some more muscle, he can work on his weak foot. There are so many things that data can’t help you with.”

In all this there is Fonseca. How did you land on him?

“Paulo has a style of play, we saw it at Lille, that Milan I think must have. We play in Milan and at the San Siro, we have to control the game and the ball. We have to be solid on these points.

“Paulo has a great ability to work, he does interesting training. He works individually and with the collective. For example, he can work with all the midfielders: after training, he takes four to five midfielders and does specific work with them.

“We’re in November, at the end of the season I’m sure we’ll see many players who will have made a huge step with him.”

This step is to consolidate Milan at the top, isn’t it?

“The European top five are City, Liverpool, Bayern etc. We want to try to at least come close, but it’s not easy. Even Liverpool took eight years to get to this level, it wasn’t like this before. They did an important job. But they had a strategy with a coach who has a precise methodology of play.

“We want to do this kind of methodology of play with a coach who has clear ideas and develop the players.”

So Fonseca’s choices – for example, the handling of Leao – are always supported by the management?

“Yes, we work together every day. And now I think Leao is totally different. Just look at his performances in Madrid, Cagliari and the national team. These are situations that can happen, you are not always perfect otherwise it would be too easy.

“You have to accept that players can have moments of difficulty and support them as Zlatan and I did with Rafa, giving him support and a constructive confrontation. We are a family.”

Can Theo, on the other hand, become even more of a leader?

“He will be. He doesn’t even know the potential he can have. A left-back like that. I think he’ll have a great career ahead of him, he’s still young.”

Did you also have Theo in the database?

“I had him since he played for Atletico Madrid in the Youth League, I saw him when I was at Monaco. But then Real Madrid took him. After that we followed him to Alaves and Real Sociedad: he had incredible figures. He still has an important margin. He already scores a lot of goals and assists, it’s very difficult to find a left-back like that.”

Are you already starting to see what this Milan player needs?

“Yes. We’ve already started talking to various profiles. With Ibra, with Giorgio Furlani, with the coach, with Gerry Cardinale… We’ve already spoken. More or less we already know the profiles we want, but I think it will be more for June. Let’s start with the profiles that are missing, then we’ll make a shortlist.”

You can’t say which ones are missing?

‘No, not yet [laughs]. In a while yes, but if I speak now in November it becomes difficult for us. Maybe over the next few weekends, I go away to see these players, I go with the scouts.’

So now you have to follow you and see where you accredit?

“Maybe I change my name [laughs], it’s easier.”

Fofana said that there is also Milan for the Scudetto, but you have to give yourself some time.

“Yes, I’m sure this team has room for that.”

But already this year?

“Yes. We suffered in the first games but we saw that in the big matches, against Inter and Real Madrid, we are present, we saw a really good Milan. We must aim to always see it by putting a bit more concentration in the other games too. It’s a mental thing. We do everything to get on this path.”

Pulisic is definitely one of the best signings of the last two years. How did you choose him?

“At Dortmund, he was a crazy player, really strong. Chelsea got him because o that, he is someone who can play on the right, on the left, as a number ten, behind the striker. In Germany he had impressive figures, at Chelsea, he didn’t.

“We thought it was not possible for such a player not to perform at a high level in the Premier League. When we lost Brahim Diaz this name came up immediately, it was a possibility in that market.

“Timing does a lot. Maybe two years earlier it would have been impossible. But when there is space to make a player like that you have to get him straight away.”

What role do you see him in? As a winger or down the middle?

“Last year as a right winger player he had the best season of his life. Today, however, maybe we need him as a trequartista.”

What is the purchase that has given you most satisfaction here at Milan? Maybe for the negotiation that was particular…

“Tijji Reijnders. He was a guy who blossomed later. We followed him many years in the AZ second team. I had gone to watch the U20 World Cup in Argentina, I had already met his agent in Italy. We had talked about Reijnders and the negotiation started in Argentina, it didn’t start in Holland.”

You told us about scouting and observation, but as Technical Director what responsibilities do you have?

“Since I’ve been in this role I have a deeper relationship with staff and coach, we do a lot of video analysis. I like to talk to them about tactics, how we play and what we can do. Then there’s the ‘dressing room’ part with the players, asking them how things are going as a family. There’s a mix: I’m at Milanello in the morning, at Casa Milan, in the office, in the afternoon.

“I’m still young, I still have to do and learn many things. I can’t do just one thing or just the other. It’s important to be present here at Milanello, just as it’s important to be present in Europe: to see what other clubs are doing, to get to know the new directors, etc. I have to try to know everything in advance to do my job in the best possible way.”

In 2019 you started with a methodology that was little known in Italy. Today, many owners that buy Italian clubs are looking at this methodology. Do you have an advantage over those who will have to adapt?

“The thing I like is that here we now work with the scout area and the data area together. Before, the two departments worked alone. Now we all work together and I like that a lot. Those who work with data have understood that we need the human aspect, we have understood that we need the data to see other things.”

How proud were you, as a team, to have managed to renew Leao at a time when it looked like something else might happen?

“First of all, we have to thank the club. They did a great job, it was not easy. When Rafa wants to do things, and you saw it in Madrid, nobody can stop him. And that’s why it’s always good to keep a profile like that: he’s Milan’s number 10, I’m too happy to have him with us. And that’s not the end of it.”

In the process that then leads to choosing a player is there a minimum number of games, home and away, that you go to?

“A minimum of two home games and two away games. Another very important thing is to have meetings with the player’s entourage. Maybe there are ten people close to the player and you need to know that right away. Understand what kind of people they are, how they work.

“I’m not talking about agents but family and friends. That’s why we can also travel to meet the players live, not just to see them in the game. That’s another important aspect.”

How do you choose a player ready for San Siro?

“I like to see matches against Premier League teams, there is a monstrous pressure there. Also matches of Turkish or Greek clubs: a Dutch club, for example, going to play there is very important to see how the player reacts to a certain type of environment. At San Siro is not easy, yes. But if we are afraid of a stadium it’s not good, so our job is also to help them in that aspect.”