Also Geoffrey Moncada, Milan technical directorspoke at the event at Harvard University dedicated to the case of the Rossoneri club: “The technical director is the link between the coach, the players and the rest of the sporting side on the one hand, and the commercial side on the other. I respond to Giorgio and talk to him every day, several times a day. I try to share as much information as possible. How are the players? What contracts do we need to change in the medical department or in the sector? youth? We have a team of ten scouts working with us: five are in Italy and five abroad, and we have data scientists at Casa Milan who help us find players with data.”
On calls with Billy Beane every Monday: “He asks us questions, gives us ideas and helps us find good players with data from Zelus (player data analysis company, ed.) but the final decision on a player is never based on numbers alone.”
On the ideal profiles for Milan and the Reijnders example: “We are taking calculated risks with young players rather than buying big names on high salaries. Maybe you won't have immediate success this way, but you're building for the long term. Reijnders played in the Dutch league and we were the only ones to bet on him. You wonder: he's a great player—why doesn't anyone want him? We were able to get it at a great price. And now he is a starter for us and plays for his national team.”
On other shaded profiles: “We tried to recruit [all’epoca 17enne] Vinicius Jr. and [all’epoca 20enne] Jude Bellingham, but we couldn't compete with Real Madrid. We have to accept it. In recent years we have brought great players to the club, and as a former scout I see it as a personal challenge to take underrated players and make them perform at the highest level.”
