Former executive and coach of both Milan and Inter, Leonardo Araújo, shared his thoughts on modern football club management at the Festival dello Sport in Trento. The Brazilian offered a critical perspective on current trends in football ownership and management.
On long-term projects and ownership changes, Leonardo stated: “I believe in long-term projects, even though in football it’s becoming complicated to plan beyond two or three years. In this world, it’s difficult to create a short-term project because many investors speculate. In ten years, PSG has managed to build a solid brand. Milan, on the other hand, has changed ownership four times in ten years: it’s difficult to build functioning projects this way.”
Regarding American funds investing in European football, Leonardo was particularly critical: “In recent years, many American funds have decided to invest in football in Italy and Europe, as it’s cheaper and more advantageous than doing so in their home country. However, these funds often lack high-level management. It’s difficult to work if you don’t know the context of the city, the tradition, and the history of the club you’re in. It becomes challenging to build a project for the team.”
On multi-club ownership, he expressed skepticism: “I’m not a big fan of multi-club ownership. Managing one club is already complicated, let alone more than one. With multi-club ownership, there’s no return on money, and it takes away the opportunity for others to invest: this creates a dangerous monopoly.”
When asked about a potential return to Milan as an executive, Leonardo was clear: “I’m fine at home, I don’t have much intention of returning to football as I did before. As a coach, it’s certainly out of the question, but not even as a sporting director. After finishing with PSG, I decided I would take a different path that will certainly be in football, because it’s my life, but in a different way.”
Leonardo refrained from commenting on Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s new role at Milan, simply stating, “Let’s say I don’t answer that.”
The event where Leonardo spoke was part of the “Football Business Forum,” an international panel on the world of football and club management, organized in collaboration with Bocconi University in Milan.
