The only certainty is that Marco Giampaolo will no longer be the coach of Milan. In fact, the rest is all in progress, with a Pioli-Spalletti head-to-head in Grand Prix style, where overtaking and counter-overtaking alternate hour after hour. At the time of writing, the Parma coach is ahead of the Certaldo one, so much so that a meeting with the Rossoneri general states is scheduled for the morning, but since the first choice was and remains Spalletti, new turnarounds cannot be ruled out.
Let's start from the beginning and that is from Giampaolo's exemption: not yet official, all right, but only because the replacement, evidently, hasn't been found. That he will no longer be the one to lead Milan has been certain since Sunday morning, indeed since the interval of the match against Genoa: in that quarter of an hour the knots have definitively come home to roost, with Boban imposing Leao and Paquetà (changes, it should be remembered, decisive results for the comeback) and, above all, to argue hard with Maldini, guilty of having sided with his coach.
A clash that led the former Rossoneri captain to watch himself away from the grandstand in the second half, but also to let go of Giampaolo. Boban, backed by Gazidis and the entire Elliot Fund, obtained the exemption of a technician deemed inadequate, both in terms of technique and character. From there the hunt for a replacement started (although perhaps it would be better to say continued), initially identified in Spalletti.
Throughout yesterday there was the feeling of an imminent agreement, with Luciano ready to sign a three-year deal worth 5 million per season, including bonuses. However, everything was linked to the termination with Inter, a rather important detail given the contract in place until 2021, at the modest sum of 20 million gross.
We expected the Nerazzurri's ok, but here's yet another twist: Marotta proposed 1,5 million in severance pay, Spalletti replied by asking for a year's salary, therefore equal to 5 (net of course). A sidereal distance, so much so that in the evening Milan, after having tried to intercede with their cousins, found themselves "forced" to fall back on Pioli, in the meantime one step away from Genoa.
Yes, because Genoa also got busy on this crazy Monday in October, with Sampdoria disbanding with Di Francesco (as well as saying goodbye to Vialli's consortium) and the Rossoblu effectively ousting Andreazzoli. Both Lanterna teams would have liked Pioli but he, after having rejected the blucerchiati because he was not convinced by the project (one between De Biasi and Iachini should go in his place), also stalled with Preziosi, evidently enticed by a more important proposal.
This is Milan, forced, barring sensational twists (in any case not to be excluded), to leave the Spalletti track and fall back on him, however considered more suitable than Giampaolo in an attempt to get back on top and grab the Champions League zone. There are no absolute certainties, apart from the fact that the Rossoneri intend to announce the new coach today, thus starting the new course.
The percentages are clearly in favor of Pioli, expected in Milan in the morning to meet Boban and Maldini: if there is no news before his arrival in the city, the Rossoneri bench will be his. But be careful of what can happen in the meantime, because it should be emphasized that everything, paradoxically, depends on Inter.
Marotta, to free Spalletti, does not want to go beyond one and a half million but the final decision rests with Zhang Jindong: the Suning boss could unlock everything, time zone permitting. At the moment therefore Pioli is close to Milan but Spalletti, first overall choice (the three-year contract proves it) still hopes to be able to enter. The only certainty, as mentioned at the beginning, is that Giampaolo will not be there tomorrow morning when training resumes. Even if this, in the light of the results, is perhaps the most obvious news of all.
