Massimiliano Mirabelli claims Milan’s Chinese patrons “almost fainted when I chose Gennaro Gattuso,” while Mauro Icardi “relies too much on Wanda.”
The director spoke to Radio Deejay this morning about his time working with former Rossoneri President Yonghong Li, who defaulted on loan repayments, before the club was effectively repossessed by Elliott Management.
Massimiliano Mirabelli claims Milan’s Chinese patrons “almost fainted when I chose Gennaro Gattuso,” while Mauro Icardi “relies too much on Wanda.”
The director spoke to Radio Deejay this morning about his time working with former Rossoneri President Yonghong Li, who defaulted on loan repayments, before the club was effectively repossessed by Elliott Management.
“In the starting XI now we have Franck Kessie, Hakan Calhanoglu, Ricardo Rodriguez, Mateo Musacchio, Andrea Conti, Lucas Biglia, plus of course the Coach Gattuso, so I did some good things at Milan,” assured Mirabelli.
“Gattuso loves Calhanoglu and in my view the real Hakan hasn’t yet made an appearance at Milan. In Germany, he scored so many goals and assists on free kicks, but then he had some personal issues to deal with.
“Nobody in the media expected Rino to get such impressive results. It’s easy to say all this in the papers, but I was gambling with something real when I made this choice.
“The Chinese club patrons told me to pick whoever I wanted as Coach, but they almost fainted when I chose Gattuso. They said we’d be sending a bad sign, suggesting we were dismantling the team.
“Gattuso is humble and eager to learn, so he surrounds himself with intelligent collaborators who can say no to him when necessary.”
Before his time at Milan, Mirabelli and CEO Marco Fassone had worked across the city at Inter.
“I was there when Roberto Mancini gave Icardi the captain’s armband. I thought it was an intelligent move, as he was and still is a great talent. Of course, to become a champion on the field, you need to be one in life too.
“Mancini said Icardi doesn’t participate in team moves, but has a lot of quality and is a focal point. I think he can be the captain anyway, as he is a good kid.
“The only problem with Icardi is that he relies too much on his wife. Wanda has so many different roles and it creates chaos.”