RedBird Capital group owner Gerry Cardinale has highlighted some of the reasons behind Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s return to AC Milan as an advisor.
As part of the official news that Ibrahimovic is now an operation partner of RedBird and an advisor for Milan, Cardinale was asked about why he felt the Swede had to come back into the fold so soon after retiring from the Rossoneri playing squad last summer.
As per the statement, Ibra will ‘collaborate with RedBird’s global investment team in supporting the firm’s existing investment portfolio across sports, media and entertainment’.
He will also ‘help source and evaluate new investment opportunities for the firm, and will advise RedBird portfolio companies on commercial projects, digital content strategies and strategic brand building initiatives to extend their presence on a global basis’.
Cardinale quickly made reference to Ibrahimovic’s wonderful playing career which saw success on more than one occasion.
“We have all been fortunate to witness Zlatan’s greatness as a player and his contributions in leading AC Milan to the top of Serie A. What makes a winner of Zlatan’s calibre is not just physical talent, but also high intellect and an entrepreneurial spirit,” Cardinale said.
“At RedBird, we have developed partnerships with a very select group of high-performing world-class athletes and artists who are able to thrive in the RedBird ecosystem across our sports, media and entertainment portfolio.”
Cardinale also talked about what he managed to learn about and from Zlatan when the pair first met in the subsequent years in which the Swede was still a player.
“I have had the opportunity to spend a lot of time with Zlatan in thinking through his post-playing career options. To have him play an active role in the future of the Club is indicative of our continued commitment to excellence both on and off the pitch, and I’m looking forward to working with him as a partner and colleague at both RedBird and AC Milan,” he said.
On what makes him qualified for this advisory role, Cardinale said: “The respect Zlatan commanded as a player, his global presence among fans of the sport, and his diverse skillset as an entrepreneur is a powerful combination for both AC Milan and RedBird.”
Hilarious. They aroused us with that ridiculous news like we just won the scudetto. The only sad thing is that we can’t post memes in the comments here because I would replace Russell Crowe’s head in Gladiator by Jerry’s with the caption “Are you not entertained?”
😀 And i would replace the MGM lion with Cardinales head purring as a cat
Haha today is seriously an amazing joke. After weeks of teasing, Zlatan is finally here to hang around with the golden boy Jerry and learn how to spend OPM for max profitability. We need more former glories to wtf positions in the building. Alessandro Nesta can serve meals at the cafeteria and Kévin Constant can be a gardener in Milanello.
😀 I hope he does well with us and that the club benefits from it but it just seem like just a publicity stunt from where i stand.
I think the first question should be how to prevent these people from ever being involved in football.
You learn from history and under Berlusconi we were in many ways world leaders from top to bottom unfortunately under these con men they couldn’t care less about history or the fans so here we are question is for how much longer.
By the way what makes ibra more qualified than Maldini regarding AC MILAN mabe unlike Maldini he’s a yes sir three bags full sir where’s my money sir.
I really don’t understand what the problem with Zlatan is? There is no better person than him who both understands the club, has played football himself and also helped take Milan to the top. Then Zlatan has respect with him, the players trust him and he will help the club grow. Your comment is so stupid. It must be because you are one of those who didn’t even like Zlatan as a player regardless of how good he was.
Timing makes sense. If Pioli is let go after Newcastle, Ibra is there to hold everything together.
Media hogwash… Lots of big words to gloss over the real job specs. His entrepreneurial spirit? That’s what he brings to the table? Almost feels like his presence is to advise furlani on how moneyball does not work in footballing spheres.. moneyball can’t get into the players heads . They hope zlatan will. Will they give him power to hire and fire? Time will tell.