November 9, 2022
The brief from today:
Ivan Gazidis to leave Milan
AC Milan CEO, Ivan Gazidis, is set to leave the club in December when his contract expires. The South African was brought in to the Serie A side in 2018 by then owners, Elliott Management, to help steer the club back from a dismal financial situation. Following Elliott’s repossession of the team from Yonghong Li—the Chinese businessman who defaulted on his loan payments to the American hedge fund—a shakeup at the administrative level followed. The previous CEO, Marco Fassone, was relieved of his duties, and Gazidis was recruited from Premier League side, Arsenal, to replace him. In the four years since, Gazidis, alongside a very capable set of individuals in leadership roles, have managed to turn Milan around both financially, as well as on the pitch. The club debt has been slashed, commercial revenues have increased, and Milan are the current Italian champions for the first time since 2011. Of course all this success was bound to attract investors, and in September it was announced that a deal was struck between Elliott and Redbird Capital for the sale of the club. From that moment, with Gazidis being an Elliott hire, it was a question mark whether his services would be retained, or whether he would even plan to linger with his contract only months from expiring. In the end, the decision to move on was selected by Gazidis, and the executive will now explore new opportunities having successfully performed the duties expected of him at Milan.
Ivan Gazidis at AC Milan’s training center: Milanello
Senegal face a potential loss
During the Bundesliga match yesterday between Bayern Munich and Werder Bremen, Bayern forward, Sadio Mane, was forced to end his match prematurely following an injury to his right fibula. While he is a key player for Bayern, the German champions are spoiled for choice and were still able to secure a 6-1 victory in his absence. For Mane’s national team Senegal, however, the story is different. The current AFCON champions are a side filled with quality, hence their recent continental victory, but despite that fact, Mane is their talisman and his role within the team is monumental. The injury he picked up in the league match is suspected to result in a period of three to four weeks out, but while some reports are already claiming he is out of the World Cup, Bayern released the following conservative statement today: “Further examinations will follow in the coming days. FC Bayern is also in contact with medical staff of the Senegalese Football Association.” Rather than rule Mane out of the impending tournament, Bayern have tried to pour cold water on the situation until medical checks are performed, but that still doesn’t inspire confidence for Senegal fans. With the Teranga Lions set to play The Netherlands on November 21, the window for checks, plus a full recovery by Mane are slim, and missing out on the World Cup would be a bitter pill to swallow for both the player, and the country.
Mane getting ready to lift the AFCON trophy earlier this year. Senegal will be hoping he recovers for Qatar