Zlatan Ibrahimovic announced that Milan have appointed Paulo Fonseca to succeed Stefano Pioli on their bench, as it has been apparent for a couple of weeks at this point. The Portuguese coach inked a three-year contract. He’ll make around €3M annually including bonuses, Corriere dello Sport relays.
“We thought hard about it, and we chose him for how his team will play. It’ll be offensive-minded and dominant. We wanted to bring something new to San Siro after five years. He’s the right man. We’re very confident and believe in him a lot.”
Milan turned to Fonseca after showing major interest in Julen Lopetegui, but their fans protested loudly against such a choice. The Spanish boss eventually ended up at West Ham. He beat out the competition of Sergio Conceiçao, who indeed left Porto, and Marcelo Gallardo.
The boss, who previously guided Roma, heads back to Serie A after two years at Lille. His side finished fifth and fourth in the last two campaigns. His contract was expiring. Instead, the Giallorossi concluded in fifth and seventh position while he was in their dugout. They made it to the Europa League semifinal in his final campaign. The team opted not to extend his deal and hire José Mourinho.
The boss got his start in his home country, managing Paços Ferreira, Porto, and Braga before moving to Ukraine, where he won the league and the domestic cup three times in a row with Shakhtar Donetsk.
In other coaching news, Verona officialized the hiring of Paolo Zanetti to substitute for Marco Baroni, who had elected to move on and eventually took over Lazio.
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