Eleven years later Max returns to Milanello, and just before the conference the fire alarm goes off. "The first objective must be to return to the Champions League"
“Football's hard”. Calm down, who is the man in the press room who talks like that? Max Allegri presents himself as Milan coach and says that phrase, which overturns his old paradigm on simple football. Then you explain, talk for 40 minutes and understand, the man is the same, with his ideas and contagious smile. Allegri leaves some clear concepts: fourth place as a goal, the club that must be a single block, attention to defense, work as a mantra. Yes, “work” was probably the most cited word. These are his most interesting words, with two notes. The first: Tare has confirmed that Jashari wants to come to Milan. The exact words: “His will is to come here but we must respect the dynamics of another club - says Tare -. We think we have made a great offer, I hope it ends with a good ending”.The second: just before the start of the press conference, the fire alarm sounded. How it should be interpreted, you decide.
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Needs— Here are Allegri's words, starting with the cornerstones of the season. “You have to be a single block, with a single direction. I try to enable the players to make us win, but the club is in first place, it must be a single block, a support. Dedication to work must come first. You don't need revolutions, just working in order'.
Objectives— “The first objective is for Milan, a world-class club, to return to play in the Champions League. Napoli is always the favourite, then there are Inter, Juve, Roma, Lazio, Atalanta. Getting to the four is absolutely not easy. Football is difficult, when you explain it: Spezia made the playoffs with almost the same squad as last year, in which they made the playouts. I am very happy, very enthusiastic. I believe that the squad is excellent, there are valuable players, the important thing is to work because the first months are very important to lay the foundations, then in March the seasons are decided. The only thing to regain the respect of the fans is to work well, the fans will have to lend us a hand, we need them”.
Market and hinges— Allegri basically formalizes the sale of Theo and (again) the arrival of Modric. “Theo? The releases are shared, Theo made a choice, I wish him the best of luck. Modric will arrive in August, it's extraordinary, it needs no introduction”. Then: “I saw Maignan, I'm very happy he stayed, he is one of the best goalkeepers in Europe, the club is very good at convincing him to stay. Leao is extraordinary, he will have a great season. Usually the most important years in the career are between 26 and 30 years. I think Loftus-Cheek is very important. We will play with the three midfielders, then we will see based on the characteristics of the players”. And again: "I don't want to talk about the market here...”. However, the questions are pressing. “Vlahovic? Dusan is an amazing guy, he's a Juve player but I saw him coming from Fiorentina...".
Negotiation and catchphrases— “Am I the most desired technician? When they called Tare and Furlani I immediately met them, we decided that we would start this adventure together. I also met the property, it was a pleasant lunch. I haven't seen Ibra yet but we spoke, I'm very happy” says Allegri, also questioned about his cult phrases: “The goal difference is the thing that matters most, they taught me this as a child. The team that scores the fewest goals almost always wins in Serie A. It's not a question of short snouts, the goal is to return to the Champions League. You have to have fun with determination, this is my way of seeing things. When Cristiano Ronaldo scored an overhead kick against us at Juve, no one remembers the action. Football is art, people come to the stadium to see the technical gestures”