Leonardo Araujo’s return is now official, and he is the man chosen by Elliott to be in charge of the club’s sporting side.
On May 14 2010, Milan announced the departure of Leonardo. Today, the club announced the return of the former midfielder, in a prominent role.
With Marco Fassone and Massimiliano Mirabelli both sacked by the new ownership, Elliott – together with President Paolo Scaroni – are choosing the new people to be in the management, and they found the profile of Leonardo – who was previously at Milan as a player, director and coach – to be the suitable one to be the leader of their project in the technical-sporting side.
Leo will be presented to the press tomorrow at 16:30 CET at Casa Milan. The 48-year-old will be in charge of the transfer market this summer. The club’s official statement:
AC Milan’s turnaround continues with the appointment of Leonardo De Araujo (“Leonardo”) as the Club’s Sporting Director, with immediate effect. An emotional come-back for the “Milanisti”, the procurement of a world-class talent with international standing will fundamentally strengthen the team’s competitiveness on the world stage.
Leonardo’s story at AC Milan is unique, having contributed to some of the Club’s great successes as player, coach, and director. He will bring back to the team his experience in building up one of the biggest clubs internationally. Leonardo joined the club in 1997 as a player, and stayed for over five seasons culminating with AC Milan’s 16th national title, one National Cup, 124 matches and 30 goals. Leonardo subsequently joined the club’s management team, firstly at Fondazione Milan and thereafter as part of the club’s sporting team. In June 2009, Leonardo was appointed coach of the club’s first team, succeeding one of his life-long mentors, Carlo Ancelotti.
Under new leadership, following the club’s recent change in ownership, AC Milan’s goal is to return the Club to the global elite of European football. Leonardo’s appointment as Sporting Director marks a critical step forward in achieving this goal and to delivering on-field success. Further announcements regarding the composition of the Club’s management team will be made in due course.
Paolo Scaroni, Chairman of AC Milan, stated: “The return of Leonardo, a redblack and world cup champion, to the Club is another step forward in our path to success. Leonardo’s appointment is another sign of Elliott’s commitment to bring in world-class and experienced leaders, who know what it takes to restore AC Milan to greatness. Leonardo will be in charge of managing the Club’s sporting area, including the transfer market, and – starting from this transfer window – he will have all the financial support he needs to strengthen and rationalise the team within UEFA’s Financial Fair Play framework”.
Leonardo has already begun his work: the first major negotiations concern the deal with Juventus over Leonardo Bonucci, as Mattia Caldara and Gonzalo Higuain could also be involved.
welcome
Welcome back Leo, and good luck! I hope you are the right man for this job:)
Not saying that Im a believer or anything right now, but I remember a lot of people mocking Beppe Marotta when he took charge of Juve, but he has been excellent. Hope Leo can be the same – in the sense of surprising a lot of people in a good way.
Has he not been excellent in his past tenure? You’re talking as if he’s a stranger to this club. Idc about his inter stint. As long as he was with Milan he was a complete gem and he has already begun his A-game, with the club being linked with caldara, Vidal, higuan among others. I just hope he’s able to exucute his plans without any hurdles. We had even more cash last year, but the difference was the quality of the management. I can only see good times ahead. We fans deserve it after so many years of darkness.
I talk about him like that because he has no experience in this specific type of job, no? You can see all things he has worked with before right in this article – none of them has to do with being a sporting director. What I said has nothing to do with his six month Inter-stint, don’t jump to conclusions. Even with Mirabelli we were linked to Auba, Fabregas etc, rumours and links will be there, what matters is what will MATERIALIZE. Who cares about the names that are linked if they wont join us? Otherwise I agree with everything… Read more »
He was sporting director of PSG after his brief Inter stint when they bought Zlatan, Thiago Silva, Marquinhos , verrati etc so he’s an experienced hand who knows how to build a team.
I asked before what his role at PSG was but didn’t get an answer, so thank you! That chills my nerves a little, hope he can do the same now although with not as unlimited funds as he had at PSG, even though he got Verratti for a bargain of 12 million euros.
Great news. I will always be a fan of Leonardo regardless of all the controversy about him. He is way better at scouting talents than Mirabelli. Milan are definitely heading in right direction.
I get worries once Maldini pulls back, I hope we get things right this time around.
Bring some Brazilian gems to add flair and creativity, Leo.
Whats this about Reina joining Chelsea for 9 million? Quite a way to make some money haha, but I was actually looking forward to it. He would be great both as competition and as a mentor for Donnarumma.
Also heard that he’s making a switch for 9million pounds. That’s quite the work for us for a 35 year old. But it raises questions of donnarumma’s intentions? Is he planning on staying? I kind have figured now that puma is our sponsor they’d want tk keep him Ag all costs and with this new management maybe he’d want to stay. Rumours of him been down to a minimum
For sure, economically it’s quite the deal, but from a sporting perspective… what do we do if Donna gets injured? And he would be a great mentor for Donna. Maybe Reina thought he was coming here and would be the first team keeper, but then Donna’s situation changed so he decided he wants to go somewhere else where he’s guaranteed first team football? Rumours have indeed been to a minimum regarding Donna, remember though that Mino had a problem with the old management that’s why he kept bitching to media. It was also said before that Donna wanted to stay… Read more »
Lol we’ve had such a roller coaster with donnarumma I wouldn’t be surprised in the last days he demands a transfer or in the last days he demands to stay. As for Reina I agree that having him would be great for the team and competition but for someone who’s 35 he only has a couple years left in him at top level. He’s no Buffon. Just as long as everything works out
“starting from this transfer window – he will have all the financial support he needs to strengthen and rationalise the team within UEFA’s Financial Fair Play framework”.
That sounded soooo good until the serious bit about FFP rules
Best of luck Leo, I believe he’ll be excellent, he’s hands might be somewhat tied this window but with a bit of luck we’ll make champions league and bring in the greens for him to spend
Arsenal just denied the Gazini stuff rumour,and his coming to Milan
They didn’t actually.
Welcome back home The Prodigal Son of Rossoneri. Wish you all the best.
And for all of you still having his Inter memory, please let’s forget this and move on. This man’s experience in the role is huge, we need him now than he needs us and its only sensible we embrace him.
Welcome back Leo.
Who would you guys choose between morata and higuain?
I’m ok with either of them joining but think morata is better deal for same $, resale value and potential to grow
I agree. Morata 100%.
Good luck leo, you’re going to need it. Huge challenge cleaning up the mess of two previous managements. But surely you’ll be able to manage a better transfer strategy than your predecessor?
Bonucci for Caldara not a good deal, I would rather keep Bonucci. Get money off of Silva, Kalanic, and Musa. Nail the striker position, get a decent LW, and maybe backup for Kessie (Berto might also work here). Barring injuries (Europa-nothing league anyone), and we should be set.
Would you like to elaborate why you think Bonu for Caldara is a bad deal?
Exactly. How on Earth is caldara – bonucci swap bad for us? Bonucci WANTS to leave. Do you get that mate? He doesn’t love Milan and he’s our fuckin captain smh. Caldara and romagnoli are the future of italy. It’s not that bonucci was world class for us last season. He was pretty much shit in many of our games. so please make us understand your point.
The only way the deal can be bad is if we give away bonucci plus cash for caldara. If anyone should be offering cash it’s juve. Getting caldara plus money for Bonucci would be excellent business for present and future.
Yep. I’m a big fan of Bonucci but if he wants to go back to Juve then let him. Caldara + cash would be genius.
It depends how you look. Short or longterm. Longterm, Caldara – Romagnoli duo is next 10y backline, along with Donna and Calabria. Short term, yes Bonucci is better. Selling Mussachio would be bad, he deserves real chance. If Conte comes, Roma – Musa – Caldara is your trio in the back.
I remember us thinking Balo and El92 will be our strikers for 10 years.
Higuain guaranteed he’s more of a house hold name he’s established he’s the perfect striker we need no doubt he’s the one
Welcome home legend plz buy brassilian youngster know forza. Milan
Welcome back Leo! U have been missed. Good luck under this new management, we would love to see u bring great South American talents like Kaka, T.Silva, Serginho, Cafu, Dida etc etc to Milan once again.
Forget the Curva Sud, Leonardo returning is definitely a step in the right direction. There’s talk of Braida returning too. Add in Kaka and Maldini and I’m in dreamland.
1. Bonucci = Caldara+ cash 2.Biglia+ cash= Immobile 3.Silva+ few cash = Memphis Depay 4. Milan Badelj for free I think these deal will be profitable for Milan if they can achieve as quick as possible, coz if those deal become real we r getting 3 young bright n proven player, 1 strong partner for Locatelli…… then the team could play in 4 2 3 1, 3 2 4 1 and 4 3 3 formation that rotation of players will be easy n we don’t have to see the boring fatigue issue which we heard last season…….. welcome dear Leonardo……..Forza… Read more »