Former Roma coach Paulo Fonseca will return to Italy as the next manager of AC Milan, the Serie A runners-up announced on Thursday.

“Milan’s new coach will be Paulo Fonseca,” stated former Milan forward Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who represented the owner during the press conference.

Fonseca, 51, joined French club Lille in 2022 and has signed a three-year contract.

He follows Stefano Pioli, who was fired at the end of the 2023-24 season after five years in command.

Read Also:Pioli To Leave AC Milan At The End Of The Season

“We studied very carefully what he did, how he prepared his matches,” said Ibrahimovic, who had two spells as a player with the club, ending his on-field career with Milan in 2023.

“We want him to bring his identity of game, his offensive style to our team, to our players.

“After five years we wanted something new, with all respect to Stefano Pioli.”

Fonseca, born in Nampula, Mozambique, began his coaching career in Portugal with stints at Pacos de Ferreira, Porto, and Braga before spending three years at Ukrainian club Shakhtar Donetsk, where he won seven championships and finished with a record of 103 victories in 139 matches.

In 2019, he took over at Roma, leading them to fifth and seventh place in Serie A before moving to Lille, where he guided them to fifth and fourth place in Ligue 1 and helped them qualify for Europe in both of his seasons there.

Milan is coming off a trophy-less season (their 19th league title came in 2022), in which they finished second to local rivals Inter, who won the title.

They were eliminated from the Champions League at the group stage, finishing third behind Dortmund and Paris Saint-Germain, and fell to AS Roma in the Europa League’s quarter-finals.

The announcement marks Fonseca’s second major managerial shift in Italy in two days.

Juventus announced on Wednesday that Thiago Motta will succeed Massimiliano Allegri, who was fired last month.