The chosen one or the only one: Why the Tare rumours provoke an important question | OneFootball

AC Milan are growing increasingly more likely to appoint Igli Tare to be the new sporting director, but is it their own choice, or the only choice…

When Giorgio Furlani took the reins from Zlatan Ibrahimovic last month, many were expecting a different decision to be made, considering Tare had already had a successful meeting with Milan in London, represented by Ibrahimovic and Gerry Cardinale.

Now, though, after a month of rejection and readjusting, it seems Tare is once again leading the race. So, it opens a rather poignant question for the Rossoneri. Put simply, is the project really that unattractive for someone to lead?

Rejection and rethinking

The first thing to do is to revise the past month. Once Furlani took the lead, the number of candidates in running opened massively, and at one point, it seemed like there were seven potential options. However, the circle quickly closed.

A clear preference emerged: Fabio Paratici seemed to be heading back to Italy, with all things pointing in one direction. In fact, he turned down the idea of “staying” at Tottenham Hotspur in favour of the new project at Milan.

So, he’s the man who was appointed, right? Well, the pre-existing ban became too much of an obstacle for the club to overlook, and after new information came to light, the Rossoneri were forced to look to another candidate.

Had this been new information, perhaps it would be slightly better, but this was not the case. Paratici’s ban was well-known from an outsider perspective, and the club will have had access to further information, one would presume. So, to spend almost a month focusing on his appointment, knowing the risks, feels almost amateur.

Let’s not add too much fuel to the fire and instead look closer to now, where the candidate list was still respectable. With Furlani and the Diavolo wanting an Italian revamp, several candidates were struck off, leaving only three runners: Tony D’Amico, Giovanni Sartori and finally, Tare.

Unfortunately, that list became one in a matter of a week as D’Amico and Sartori both have opted to stay in their current roles, and you would certainly argue that both have slightly more appeal than the current situation that is in place in Milano.

So, that leaves one candidate” Igli Tare. The man whom Furlani went to Cardinale to look against, and now stands solely in the picture. Again, a slightly amateurish move, it feels like, but it causes more concern about the status of the club compared to respectable options.

The initial overlooking

There are quite a few reasons why one would overlook Tare, in the most respectful way possible. Put simply, the best work of his career came at Lazio, and this is because there are no other case studies to look at.

We will revisit that time in Rome, of course. However, it does stand as something that goes against him as well as adding to him. Working and more importantly succeeding in more than one environment is a must nowadays, and this is especially the case at an elite level.

The expectations and pressure at Lazio and Milan are completely different, and jumping from the former to the latter is a huge ask. For example, and this may be a slightly different comparison, Dan Ashworth did fantastic work at Newcastle United, and this attracted Manchester United, who paid rather heavily to attain his services.

In just a few months, though, the Englishman once again was looking for work, as the environment and his responsibilities were reportedly different to what they were with the Magpies.

To compare that to the situation with the Diavolo, the ‘management’ have controversially had a rather large say in proceedings, and this could be too much for Tare, alternatively, it could work perfectly.

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Sticking with market proceedings, we must look at the model which Lazio used under his guidance.

We must preface this by saying Tare is very much a ‘RedBird’ appointment in this sense, considering he bought low and sold high throughout his time with the Aquile, and to his credit, there was a lot of success in this model.

However, after recent years of being let down in the mercato and on the pitch, fans are desperate for tangible success, and this model might not be the right thing for now. It feels very ‘Moneyball’, which is what the club have long been targeting, and whilst it can be beneficial, it has to be done near perfectly.

In this sense, and this could go for or against him, it is a balancing act. Buying for profit is not a terrible idea, but the Rossoneri need signings of the Tijjani Reijnders and Christian Pulisic ilk, rather than ideas like Yunus Musah – who arrived with massive expectations and has failed to reach them.

Finally, we come to the most pernickety point of the ‘against’ list, if you want to call it that. Put simply, the Albanian has been out of work for almost two seasons now, and whilst there may be personal reasons behind this, it does not look great.

For example, Andrea Berta, who was another target on the list, had only just left Atletico Madrid and was snapped up by Arsenal, then there is the aforementioned Ashworth example. Tare was previously approached by Milan in 2019, but since his leave from Lazio, he has been a distant figure from football.

That is not to say that he is a ‘bad’ appointment, but it may be suggestive of his status within the elite circles if he has been overlooked for so long.

Ready for the jump

After picking him apart for so long, we should probably look at the good he has done, and we will start where we left off. With no work in the past two years, he has had plenty of time to track players and refine his own methods, whilst keeping an eye on trends that are emerging at elite levels.

Hypothetical, yes, but this is a possibility, and he could be a better appointment now with updated workings. Then, there is the case of a point to prove, after being potentially overlooked for so long, the Albanian may want to show what he can do at an elite club, and Milan taking that chance could be the perfect opportunity for him.

Photos by Marco Rosi/Getty Images and AC Milan

In the past few days, we have learned that Tare is being seen as an ideal due to his visions matching RedBird’s, and this is already a big tick. The Ashworth comparison emerges again: with Manchester United, the workings were very different to Newcastle, and this was the result of misaligned ideas and tasks. So, sharing viewpoints is a vital part of this role, and Tare does this.

Also, his profile generally is one liked by the management, as he has now seemingly gotten the approval of the big three names at Milan (Furlani, Ibrahimovic and Cardinale), which bodes well. Furthermore, his wage demands are also not seen as out of question, though this is to be expected, considering his position.

Moving away from hypotheticals and the more ‘boring’ information about the move, though, we can also take some positives in his time at Lazio.

Starting with the mercato, the Albanian brought Sergej Milinkovic-Savic, Ciro Immobile and Luis Alberto to the club for a combined total of less than €25m. At their peak, the trio was worth almost €200m.

That’s three players in 14 years, but the proof is in the pudding. The club, when he took over, were around mid-table. In his almost decade-and-a-half, there were just three years where the club did not get European football. Argue whether that’s players or coaches, ultimately, it stems from Tare’s visions, and that is what the Rossoneri get.

From reports in recent months, it has seemed increasingly likely that Gerry Cardinale’s baseline for the club is Champions League football, and Tare, more likely than not, can fight towards that goal. Considering the Laziali often fought above their weight with Tare at the helm.

Heading back to the mercato, in his time at the club as sporting director, the club brought in 417 players and parted with 420 – in this same timeframe, Milan brought 523 and parted with 525, using stats from Transfermarkt (including youth call-ups).

These figures show that he is more willing to work with a group of players for longer, and build around a base, rather than constantly chopping and changing, which the Rossoneri have become accustomed to recently.

The director also spent €419m, having an overall net balance of €-85m. During this time, the Diavolo lost €552m, which is more than the Roman club even spent in that time frame (€1.1bn spent with €554m received).

In his time with Lazio, he appointed just nine different coaches, whilst the Rossoneri appointed 13, and you would certainly argue that there were more ‘exciting hires’ made by the Albanian, which may appeal to fans – Simone Inzaghi, Stefano Pioli and Marcelo Bielsa, for example.

Finally, he oversaw a number of different rebuilds during his time in Rome, meaning he is perfectly capable of doing a job here, with the current situation of Milan.

Of course, we can get into nuances of the market during his time, and a number of other things, but the important thing is he has experience working in this situation, and, importantly, working within a club which can quickly become toxic, which the Rossoneri frankly are right now.

Forced or fate?

So, there is one thing to leave it on, answering that question which we started on. Is this a move that has been stumbled upon because of the whittling down of other options, or is it converging destinies?

You can argue both, certainly. In a way, fate can be forced, and this is what this, on paper, feels slightly like. However, the fact that he has gained the approval of both Ibrahimovic and Furlani, which has been so rare generally, says an awful lot. The less said about their own credibilities after this ordeal, the better.

There are definitely red flags with this appointment, but there are as many signs that suggest he can lead the new project towards a better position than what Milan are currently in, definitely.

Ultimately, it is and must be a case of time. This season, the Rossoneri have often got it very wrong with timings, whether that be of signings or sackings. With Tare, his project must be allowed time to blossom. After all, we are looking at a few years of culmination of poor mistakes that have led to here.

They won’t be fixed instantly, so Tare must be allowed the time to tear up the roots and plant his own.