Milan technical director Geoffrey Moncada explains the style of football that drew them to Paulo Fonseca, which in turn is helping Rafael Leao become ‘a totally different player.’
The chief gave a long and exclusive interview to MilanNews.it and you can read more of his comments here.
The club hierarchy came under fire from the media and some fans for the choice of Fonseca as new coach, as results have been mixed since he took over from Stefano Pioli.
After a summer with so many very different alternatives considered for the bench, why did they eventually choose the ex-Roma and Lille boss?
“Paulo has a style of football that we believe Milan ought to have,” said Moncada.
“We play at San Siro, we should control the game and the ball. We should be solid on these matters. Paulo is a good worker, he has interesting training sessions, working both individually and with the collective.
“For example, I’ve seen him take four or five midfielders after a regular session and do some specific work just with them. It is only November, I am sure that we will see many players have made enormous progress by the end of the season with him.”
While Milan were the most successful club side in the world during the Silvio Berlusconi era, their status and results have slipped somewhat in both Italy and Europe.
“The top five in Europe are sides like Manchester City, Liverpool, Bayern Munich, etc. We want to at least get closer to that, but it is not easy. Liverpool took eight years to reach this level, as it wasn’t like that before. They required a strategy and a coach with a very precise methodology. We want to do the same with a coach who has clear ideas and can develop the players.”
Milan stood behind Fonseca on Rafael Leao decisions
Fonseca took some big risks with his decisions to drop Rafael Leao to the bench in three consecutive Serie A matches, substituting him early in other big games.
However, Moncada insists the club was always right behind him in these choices.
“We work together every day, we support him and now I think Leao is a totally different player. Just look at his performances against Real Madrid, in Cagliari and on international duty with Portugal.
“These situations can happen, nobody is always perfect. We must accept that players have difficult moments and support them the way I and Zlatan Ibrahimovic did with Rafa, giving support and constructive criticism. We are a family.”
Moncada was head of Milan’s scouting network before he became technical director, so was involved in the decision to buy Rafael Leao from Lille back in 2019.
“I remember seeing him play for Sporting Lisbon against Belenenses, I think he was 17 years old. He played as a Number 10, a support striker, but had a lot of freedom and an interesting profile. He was tall, lithe, had super technique and scored a goal with this incredible sense of confidence.
“Obviously, many other scouts saw him too, I was certainly not the first, but when you go and see an Under-17s match in Portugal and see a lad like that… You note his name down.”
It turns out Rafael Leao wasn’t the only future star that Moncada and Milan had on their list in the summer of 2019.
“We needed a left-sided winger and there were some pretty good names… Leao, Donyell Malen, Marcus Thuram who at the time was at Guincamp. Now they are all playing at a high level, but five years ago that was not to bet taken for granted.
“At the time, Leao had only been a starter for six months at Lille and we brought him to Milan. Some players need to be given time.”
