Repubblica: Milan smile as Pioli heads for Al Ittihad – the €10m saved will be reinvested

Stefano Pioli’s move to Al Ittihad is good news for AC Milan as they will save on the salary that they would have owed him, according to a report.

As reported yesterday by various different sources, Pioli is very close to becoming the new coach of Al Ittihad, a team in the Saudi Arabian league, meaning that he was only out of a job for a few weeks after leaving Milan.

According to La Gazzetta dello Sport (via Radio Rossonera), the official announcement should arrive in the next few days and it is also an assist to Milan who will save on the salary of Pioli and his staff for the 2024-25 season.

Pioli will become the highest paid Italian coach and will enter the group of coaches with the highest salaries by moving east. He is expected to sign a three-year contract worth €8-10m net per season, with some questions about bonuses still to be defined.

Meanwhile, La Repubblica add that Gerry Cardinale’s club ‘have €10m more to allocate to the mercato’, i.e. the amount the club thought they would have to spend on the gross salary of Pioli and his staff.

Among others, the former Milan boss will be the coach of Fabinho, Karim Benzema, Ngolo Kanté and the former Lazio centre-back Luiz Felipe.