Tare ‘won’t lie’ about AC Milan Scudetto aim or Morrison regret at Lazio

AC Milan director of sport Igli Tare would ‘be a liar if I said the objective wasn’t to win the Scudetto, and we are on the right track’ after radical changes, but reveals his biggest Lazio regret was Ravel Morrison.

The former Albania international ended his playing career at Lazio and immediately moved into a management role as director, where he remained for 15 years.

After a two-year break, he then took over the role at Milan this summer, so he looked back over his career at the Social Football Summit in Turin.

“I went into the Lazio office to sign a contract as a player and I left with a contract as a director of sport. I think President Claudio Lotito was a visionary, he understood many things about me during my three years there as a player that I was not yet ready to acknowledge,” explained Tare.

“Even as a player, I was always curious about how clubs worked and wanted to get in depth. The most difficult speech of my life was having to present myself to my teammates as the new director of sport.”

Tare is eager to recreate some of the bonds that he saw at Lazio when coming to San Siro.

“The spirit that was created especially under Simone Inzaghi was special, we were a family. I would love to bring that to Milan, I am glad that a sense of empathy has already been created with all the people who work at Milanello.

“We changed a lot, but have the opportunity during the week to work on the details, something that becomes impossible when also playing in Europe. We can lay the foundations for the imminent future.”

When asked how imminent, Tare confessed he is aiming high from this season.

“I’d be a liar if I said the objective wasn’t to win the Scudetto. If you want to get there in the shortest possible time, you need many different elements. It’s a radical project, as we signed 19 players and got rid of 23.

“We are on the right track, I have this desire to win some important trophies with this glorious club.”

When it comes to scouting as a director of sport, Tare also reveals his mixture of old and new approaches.

“I am a big fan of data and artificial intelligence, as they help you have a larger vision of players, but you cannot buy that ability to sense the characteristics of players. You need both in the long run, including a profound understanding of human values.

“Just look at the way Milan decided to bring in ‘little old men’ like Luka Modric, who in reality acts like the youngest of all on the field. Seeing him celebrate in the locker room like a 10-year-old is the best thing in the world.”

At the same time, Tare also confessed that this intuition can let him down when it comes to choosing players suited to certain clubs.

“I wanted Ravel Morrison at Lazio. I got curious after Sir Alex Ferguson kept talking about him in an interview, so I brought him to Lazio to see if we could switch his light back on, but it was impossible. I’d never seen a pure talent like him.”

Former Manchester United youth talent Morrison joined Lazio for free in 2015 and only made eight appearances for a total 161 minutes of football.

There were loan spells at QPR and Atlas before his free transfer to Ostersund in 2019.