Zlatan Ibrahimovic says Olivier Giroud's trophy-winning experienced would be welcome at Milan and has urged Gianluigi Donnarumma to reconsider his decision to leave San Siro.
France international Giroud is out of contract at Chelsea later this month and has been strongly linked with a move to Milan as they seek a replacement for departing striker Mario Mandzukic.
Giroud has spent the past three and a half seasons at Stamford Bridge, winning three major trophies across - including the Champions League last weekend.
The 34-year-old did not play any part in a 1-0 win over Manchester City in the final in Porto, but his six goals were the most of any Chelsea player in the 2020-21 competition.
Only Kylian Mbappe (eight) and Erling Haaland (10) scored more Champions League goals, though Giroud boasted the better minutes-per-goal ratio of the three.
Giroud also won the FA Cup three times with Arsenal and the Ligue 1 title at Montpellier, as well as lifting the World Cup with France in 2018, which Ibrahimovic believes would help Milan greatly.
"The more high-level players we can get, the better," he told La Gazzetta dello Sport. "Giroud has great experience and we don't have many players who have won trophies.
"If he comes he is welcome. This is a well-guided group who want to learn and improve."
Milan led the way at the top of San Siro for a large part of last season, only to drift away before eventually finishing as runners-up to bitter rivals Inter.
Goalkeeper Donnarumma played a big part in the Rossoneri's highest league finish since 2011-12 with 14 clean sheets – a joint-high along with Inter's Samir Handanovic.
The 22-year-old has been with Milan since 2013 and has been a regular for the last six seasons, but he is set to leave the club this month after turning down a new contract.
Ibrahimovic is disappointed to see Donnarumma depart, feeling that the youngster could have become a one-club man like Paolo Maldini, who is now a director at the club.
"I'm sorry for Gigio," Ibrahimovic said. "I'll ask you a question: how much is Donnarumma worth?
"He came through Milan's academy and could have been the team's goalkeeper for 20 years – maybe not 20 because he is not Ibra – but he is the strongest in the world.
"He could have become Mr Milan, like Maldini. What value could he give to Maldini? There is no measure.
"Everyone has a value – it depends on how much you need that player. The market dictates the value. It's like on the stock market.
"If Gigio will leave or not, I don't know. It takes two to tango. I would tell him to stay at Milan until the end."
Ibrahimovic scored 15 goals and assisted two in 19 Serie A appearances last season, averaging 1.02 direct goal involvements per 90 minutes.
That is behind only Cristiano Ronaldo (1.03), Dries Mertens (1.04), Romelu Lukaku (1.09) and Luis Muriel (1.95) among players to have played more than 15 times in 2020-21.
He suffered with injuries and illness in the second half of the season, though, and will miss out on a recall to the Sweden team at Euro 2020 as a result of his latest setback.
"I suffered because of the injuries, but I've spent 18 amazing months back at Milan," he said. "Milan are back in the Champions League, and the fans deserved that.
"I wanted to win the Scudetto, we were up there, but we've improved a lot.
"I got angry every day this season. It's not a negative thing for me. It's a way to make people understand how much you care about what you are doing.
"I have more responsibility, I feel like a leader. The relationship with the club is clear and the players must work every day to take Milan back to where we belong."
Asked if he intends to become Stefano Pioli's assistant when he eventually brings an end to his playing career, Ibrahimovic said: "I already am!"
Rob Edwards relieved to hear skipper Tom Lockyer is doing OK after Luton win
Rob Edwards’ delight at Luton ending their 31-year wait for Premier League football was nothing compared to the relief he felt at the news captain Tom Lockyer was all right.
Saturday’s Sky Bet Championship play-off final went the distance at a packed Wembley, where the Hatters rallied after their skipper’s worryingly collapse early on.
Jordan Clark put Luton into a deserved lead that Coventry midfielder Gustavo Hamer cancelled out in the second half, with the match ending 1-1 after 90 minutes and extra-time.
Joe Taylor saw a winner ruled out just before spot-kicks, with Fankaty Dabo’s sudden-death miss sealing a 6-5 shoot-out triumph that propelled Luton back into the top-flight for the first time since 1992.
The dramatic triumph means the Hatters will welcome Manchester City and Co just nine years after facing the likes of Salisbury and Hyde in the Conference Premier.
Luton boss Edwards said: “I felt a bit numb. I just made sure I shook Mark’s hand and his staff.
“I don’t want to be that guy that just starts running off and celebrating before I’ve seen the other manager.
“I just felt very numb. I still do. It hasn’t sunk in quite yet. It might take a few days, but it’s great. It does feel good.
“It was mixed because of Locks (Lockyer), that’s why I couldn’t really go for it celebrating.”
This is a day that will live long in the memory of anybody connected to Luton, whose players held a Lockyer shirt throughout the celebrations.
The Hatters captain collapsed when running back to defence in the early stages of the final, leaving the field on a stretcher and being taken to hospital for tests.
Luton confirmed Lockyer was “responsive and talking to his family”, with his dad posting an image of him in a hospital bed celebrating the shoot-out win.
Edwards cried with delight when he saw that image and hopes to soon celebrate with the much-loved skipper.
“If we can we will (see him in hospital),” he said of Lockyer, who is expected to be kept in overnight. “But I don’t want to get in the way and if I’m not allowed then I won’t.
“If I’m allowed I would love to go and see him, but then I think we’re so tight as a group that I’m not sure if 40-odd people are allowed to go and see him in hospital.
“We will have to check on that, but I’m just so thankful that he’s OK because that’s all that matters.
“I wasn’t really able to enjoy any celebration at the end because all I cared about was Locks.”
As for Coventry, it was a heartbreaking end to a memorable season.
Bottom of the table in October and taken over at the start of the year, boss Mark Robins was agonisingly close to leading the Sky Blues from League Two to the top flight.
“Firstly, congratulations to Luton because once the game is over and done with you’ve got to congratulate the winners,” the long-serving Coventry boss said.
“They’ve come out on top today, however tight the game may have been.
“Congratulations to them and their supporters. I think they have been outstanding all season and good luck to them moving forward.
“I think for us, certainly the opposite of their joy is pain.
“You certainly feel a bit of pain, but once that pain starts to dissipate in however long it takes for it to go, we’ve got to reflect on what an unbelievable achievement it’s been just to even be here today in a play-off final.
“The division is very, very tough as we all know and unfortunately we couldn’t make that next step.”
On This Day in 2011: Lionel Messi stars as Barcelona win Champions League
Lionel Messi produced a Wembley masterclass as Barcelona beat Manchester United 3-1 in the Champions League final on this day in 2011 to become European champions for a fourth time.
Pep Guardiola won his second Champions League as Barca head coach in three years after a dominant performance from his side.
They reached the final after defeating El Clasico rivals Real Madrid 3-1 on aggregate in the last four, with United sweeping aside Schalke 6-1 in their semi-final.
Guardiola’s side outplayed United in the first half, enjoying 68 per cent possession and having 22 shots, but were still level at half-time as Pedro’s opener was cancelled out by Wayne Rooney, who side-footed home from 15 yards after a one-two with Ryan Giggs.
Barca’s dominance continued after the break with Messi, who moments earlier had seen a shot cleared off the line by Patrice Evra, firing in a low shot from 25 yards.
Messi’s dribbling then caused panic in the United defence and David Villa capitalised to whip a shot into the top corner from just outside the penalty area and secure Barcelona’s third Champions League title in six years.
Eric Abidal, who had undergone surgery only two months earlier to remove a tumour in his liver, was given the honour of wearing the captain’s armband during the presentation ceremony and he was the first player to lift the trophy.
After the match Guardiola hailed Messi as “the best player I have ever seen”, while United boss Sir Alex Ferguson said: “In my time as manager it is the best team we have faced.”
Gareth Southgate knows Euro 2024 must go ‘very, very well’ to keep England job
Gareth Southgate knows next year’s Euros will have to go extremely well for it to be a “possibility in anybody’s eyes” for him to stay on as England manager.
The 52-year-old was parachuted into the hotseat following Sam Allardyce’s ignominious exit in 2016 and has gone on to oversee the national team’s best spell since winning the World Cup.
England reached the 2018 semi-finals before losing the delayed Euro 2020 final in an agonising penalty shoot-out defeat to Italy at Wembley.
There were more signs of progress as the team were edged out by France at last year’s World Cup, but a challenging year meant Southgate had to weigh up whether to see out his contract until 2024.
The England boss decided to stay on after a week of contemplation following Qatar, but next summer’s European Championship could prove his last finals in charge.
“My contract is until the December,” Southgate said. “That was always put in place because it would allow everybody reflection time, really.”
Asked if the Euros would be his last tournament, Southgate said: “Who knows?
“I think we’ll have to go very, very well for that to be a possibility in anybody’s eyes and that’s fair enough. I’m more than comfortable with that.
“My aim is to try and win the tournament and everything I do is geared around that and every conversation I have with the players now is geared around that.
“So, what will happen in the future at the moment it isn’t at the forefront of my mind, but trying to win this European Championship is.”
England are third favourites with the bookmakers to triumph in Germany next year, and that is all the manager is focused on right now.
‘Succession’ is a buzzword thanks to the popular US TV series, but Southgate has not seen the show and was unwilling to talk about potential candidates for a job he cares deeply about.
“Whatever (input) John (McDermott, Football Association technical director) and everybody else at the FA would like, really,” he said.
“I’m not precious about it. If I could help in any way, at whatever point. I try to do that now with involvement in the pro licence, with reaching out to English coaches.
“We’ve had people in to have the odd day here and there with us at training.
“That’s not my decision but I’d always help English football as much as I can.
“At whatever point I leave here, hopefully we’ve won something, but if I’m the second most successful I’ll be more than happy to become third very quickly.
“I joined here to help English football and that will never change for me.”
England’s immediate focus is taking a giant stride towards Germany by beating Malta and North Macedonia in June, but for a number of players their future is up in the air.
Harry Kane, Declan Rice and Jude Bellingham are subject of widespread speculation, while a lack of game-time is an issue for Southgate’s favourites Harry Maguire and Kalvin Phillips.
“There’s potentially a lot of movement with that squad we’ve picked across the summer, but I think it will be later in the summer,” the England boss said.
“It doesn’t worry me how it plays out. I think as a player you always back yourself. You’ve got to.
“You’ve got to have the mentality that ‘wherever I go I’m going to force my way into the team’ until such point as which it becomes apparent where ‘maybe I’ve got to go’.
“And maybe we’ve got a couple in the squad who’ve got that decision to go through in their own minds this summer.”
That self-confidence has paid dividends for Jack Grealish, who struggled to make the desired impact in his first season at Manchester City.
But the 27-year-old has come on leaps and bounds this term under Pep Guardiola, who Southgate considers the best coach in the world.
“I’m a huge admirer,” the England boss said. “He knows that, I’ve told him.
“Of course it’s been brilliant for our players to work with him and they have learned individually, tactically and, probably as much as anything, that mentality.
“You mention Jack, he’s played properly, I would say, in this period. You know, against Real Madrid with and without the ball.
“That wasn’t the case two-and-a-half years ago, if I’m honest, so there’s been a lot of progress.”
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