Massimiliano Mirabelli returned to Milanello this week with Padova, the Serie B club where he serves as sporting director and technical-area chief. The friendly against Milan brought him back to the training ground he knew during one of the club’s most unsettled modern seasons, when a new ownership, a new executive structure and an expensive squad rebuild were all competing for attention.
The decision
Mirabelli’s Milan spell lasted little more than a year, but it remains closely tied to the turbulent 2017-18 campaign. He formally joined the club in April 2017, although his work had begun earlier, after the arrangements for Milan’s sale from Fininvest to the Chinese ownership group led by Li Yonghong and David Han Li had been completed in September.
It was the end of the Berlusconi era and the beginning of a very different project. Mirabelli arrived from a varied scouting and sporting-director background: he had been Inter’s head scout, helping identify Jeison Murillo, Marcelo Brozovic and Ivan Perisic, and had also worked at Ternana and Sunderland. Earlier roles had come at Cosenza and Rende, his hometown, where he had played until the age of 26.
Still a relatively young executive, he privately expected his Milan stay to be brief. He would tell close contacts that he did not see himself remaining for more than one or two years, convinced obstacles would eventually be placed in his way.
At Milan he worked beside chief executive Marco Fassone, who had succeeded Adriano Galliani. Their partnership became a symbol of that summer’s optimism, particularly through Fassone’s now-famous formal introductions of new signings.
The club made 11 arrivals in the 2017 window: Leonardo Bonucci, Mateo Musacchio, Ricardo Rodriguez, Lucas Biglia, Fabio Borini, Nikola Kalinic, André Silva, Hakan Calhanoglu, Antonio Donnarumma, Franck Kessie and Andrea Conti. More than €230 million was committed, including €42 million for Bonucci, €38 million for André Silva and €18 million for Musacchio.
Not all of that recruitment stood the test of time. Many of the signings struggled to establish themselves, although Calhanoglu left a positive mark and Kessie became central to Milan’s eventual return to the Champions League and their 2022 Scudetto triumph.
Mirabelli’s preferred attacking addition had been Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, then coming off a 40-goal season for Borussia Dortmund and with a Milan academy connection in his past. The deal did not materialise. Mirabelli later reflected that the forward wanted the move, but that an agreement required both sides to make it happen.
He regarded Gianluigi Donnarumma’s difficult contract renewal as perhaps his finest piece of work at the club. Yet his public assessments also became part of the story of a season that quickly lost its early momentum. He had suggested Patrick Cutrone could score 30 goals, forecast that André Silva would become one of world football’s leading forwards, and described Kalinic as a dependable fit for Vincenzo Montella’s football.
Montella did not last long enough to see that plan develop. He was dismissed after 14 league matches and replaced by Gennaro Gattuso. Milan eventually finished sixth in Serie A and lost the Coppa Italia final 4-0 to Juventus.
There was also a far more ambitious possibility in the background. Mirabelli later said Milan had made contact and reached an agreement to bring Cristiano Ronaldo to the club, with ownership initially approving the operation. The Portuguese forward was dealing with tax issues during his Real Madrid period, and Mirabelli said he met Ronaldo after the Champions League final in Cardiff against Juventus.
Ronaldo’s reported message was direct: he was willing to join Milan, had never played in the Europa League and wanted to win it. The Chinese ownership ultimately withdrew from the deal, and Ronaldo did not arrive.
By April 2018, as uncertainty grew around Milan’s ownership, Mirabelli insisted he was not attached to his position and that anyone who wanted the role could take it if they were given the opportunity. The change came in July, when Elliott, the fund led by Paul Singer, took control of the club and Mirabelli was removed from office.
In his farewell, he described Milan as something he felt deeply connected to. It was a fair reflection of his investment in a project that had moved quickly, spent heavily and ended before it could settle.
Sunday’s picture
Mirabelli spent four years away from the game after leaving Milan. In January 2022 he resumed work at Padova, replacing Sean Sogliano as sporting director. Over two seasons, Padova returned to Serie B after a six-year absence, while Antonio Donnarumma also followed him to the club.
The friendly at Milanello therefore placed Mirabelli in front of a Milan markedly different from the one he left behind. His own time at the club was defined by the task of constructing a new cycle after years away from the top end of the table. The present Milan have their own unresolved questions, with the sporting-director role under RedBird remaining an uneasy part of the club’s structure.
For Mirabelli, though, the visit was less about reopening old arguments than a reminder of how quickly Italian football can circle back. Milanello was once the centre of his biggest professional gamble; now he returned there with Padova, carrying a separate project and a different position in the wider championship story.
