Moretto: Months of talks evaporate quickly – the reconstruction of the Lopetegui-Milan saga

A few days ago Julen Lopetegui was thinking about booking flights to Italy and getting ready to sign his contract with AC Milan, but now everything has changed.

According to Relevo, Milan have asked for time to reflect on the choice, something strongly influenced by the reaction of the fans and especially the Curva Sud. Gerry Cardinale has been ‘shaken’ by the response and ‘is ready to take a step back and turn to another coach’.

The owner’s change of direction is not shared by the entire board, including Zlatan Ibrahimovic, which implies the Swede still believes Lopetegui is the right man. Last week all the parties involved, including Lopetegui, met in London to verbally define all the details of the contract.

The sensations suggested that the agreement was a matter of time and yet the great pressure from external voices has caused the Rossoneri to reflect and back down, something which deserves analysing in a separate piece.

Lopetegui is ‘upset by Milan’s attitude’ and now feels ready to talk to other clubs. He had spoken for weeks about the plans for the future with Milan and several ideas about the summer mercato were also discussed.

What next for him? Saudi Arabia tempted him a few months ago, but his priority was to remain in Europe, with a special preference for the Premier League but without closing doors to other avenues, like Milan.

Milan were working on Lopetegui for weeks and now ‘do not have a ready candidate with whom they are already negotiating concretely’. Different names have been mentioned, but they had focused on the Spaniard until they decided to stop the negotiations.