Ibrahimovic: Youth teams need ‘balance’ – ‘The culture in Italy is focused on results’
Zlatan Ibrahimovic says that there is a need for ‘balance’ in Italian youth teams, and believes that coaches of Primavera and U23 sides are too ‘focused on results’ as things stand.
The RedBird advisor addressed the topic of youth team cultures in a recent feature interview with CBS Sports.
Ibrahimovic on Italy’s youth, relationship with Allegri, Maignan and Rabiot
During his chat with CBS, Ibrahimovic was asked for his thoughts on the current state of youth teams in Italy and the apparent struggle to field promising young Italian players in competitive matches.
“The culture of Italy is that everybody is focused on results,” said Ibrahimovic.
“The youth coaches (say): ‘I want to win, so If I want to win, I put a ready player. But then I have a potential player, he will not play. I will play the ready player because he will make me win’. We take that out from Milan.
“We’re changing the philosophy because first of all we want to give them game time. Because when you’re young, I believe in game time. If you’re not playing in Milan Futuro, you’ll play with the Primavera, 100%. So everybody will get game time. Then after a while, you move up again. It’s like a balance, like a scale that goes up and down.”
Ibrahimovic tried to explain why promoting young players to the first team seems to be such a big issue, particularly at a ‘big’ club like Milan.
“But then when you come in the first team, it’s only based on results. So now we need results. We’re trying to bring out the youth, which we want, but at the same time, we’re haunted by the history of the club.
“I mean seven Champions Leagues, 19 Scudettos, all the Golden Ball players that won, all the international cups we won, fans are used to that. If we don’t give them that, we’re not giving them Milan. And we need to give them Milan.”
Ibrahimovic also discussed his working relationship with head coach Massimiliano Allegri, with whom he has worked as a player and as an advisor to the club’s ownership.
“He’s a character. I had him as a coach also. Even at that time he handled the players very well,” Ibrahimovic said. “He’s very good at the relationships with the players, he’s managing the group fantastically. And obviously he’s a character.
“It wasn’t easy because we had Seedorf, we had me, Cassano, all of these big characters that weren’t afraid to say things. But Allegri has to think collectively, he can’t only think about one. He has to do what’s best for the time.
“From then, he had to work on the big characters. But he handled it well. We won in the first year and he’s bringing that to the team today, he transmits it to the team. Obviously the players he had before are different to these ones. Maybe now he’s missing the ‘characters’ that he would like to have more of.
“Working with Allegri is very easy. He’s the expert. He has big experience, he’s been at big clubs. He’s a winner and to be at Milan isn’t for everyone. It’s difficult to be the coach of Milan. It’s very demanding and he understands what it means to be at Milan, so he brings the whole package. He just has to bring that to the players now.”
Ibrahimovic is also familiar with a number of Milan’s current first-team stars from his own playing days.
“We have Rabiot also, who is also for me, on a different level. In this team, we have Mike the goalie, Nkunku, who came this season and Rabiot. I played with them when they were 17 years old at PSG. Now they’re here at Milan. And I played with Mike obviously here, and Rabiot chose a different path.”