Geoffrey Moncada, the club's sporting director, spoke to Milan TV about his start in the world of football since his childhood days:
"It was a match of Monaco; I started watching the championship team with Trezeguet, Marco Simone, Giuly... I watched a game and immediately understood that it was the career path I wanted for the future. My father always took me to watch matches in Monaco and Marseille, and I started following and becoming crazy about football."
What are teams that you liked to follow?
"I really like Latin football, I really like Italian football because at that time there was Zinedine Zidane, who was important for us French. Milan had many French players like Desailly or even Weah who had come from French football. And also Spain and Portugal."
How did you get into football? Moncada replied:
"I had a grandfather who was really crazy about football and he showed me many matches. I started understanding the players, the tactics, etc. I was born in St. Tropez, but immediately went to Cannes, Nice, and Monaco, an important area in France."
On the childhood memories he has regarding AC Milan:
"Milan had many French players and the TVs used to show matches on public television; you could watch Champions League games. There were matches between Paris Saint-Germain and Milan and between Monaco and Milan. That's how I got to know Milan and San Siro, I saw the fans and this beautiful jersey. And I saw that it was a very strong team, everyone spoke well of Milan."
What position did you play on the pitch?
"I was a Gattuso. Very aggressive, I wasn't tall but I was very aggressive in pressing. I was born in '86, and French football started to become much stronger. I wasn't bad, but I wasn't strong, and I realised I didn't have the right profile to play. I liked the world of football more than being a player. I liked the coach, the sporting director, the president because it was challenging to achieve, I always looked at these kinds of roles."
On the important of family:
"I'm very close to my parents. It's my father who took me to watch matches and gave me freedom with football. He's a 'gendarme', a policeman; I had a very military culture. And then my mother always let me do what I wanted. They always told me to do things I like and go all the way. They let me try, gain experience, travel."
On his career steps:
"I studied management; it was interesting because I worked in a group, but I missed something about the sports aspect. Then I went to visit a football company and there was the job of video profiling, videos about players and teams: tactical work and scouting."
On how he joined Monaco:
"I sent an email and waited because it was my club. The sporting director called me because the coach, Claudio Ranieri, needed a match analyst. I went to Monte Carlo and had a meeting, then everything happened very quickly. Did I believe in it? No, but when the moment is right, you know you have to go. The team was in the second division, a Russian fund came in and changed everything. The coach, Ranieri, had an Italian mentality, he wanted to do a lot of analysis and asked for a match analyst. I arrived at the Monaco office, but there was nothing; everything had to be created. It was interesting and challenging for me; I immediately developed a relationship with the coach, the staff, and the locker room. This helped me a lot to understand their needs and learn the locker room code."
On the relationship with Monaco's management:
"They were businessmen first; they had outlined a line of players to create and sell. Every year they asked to take ten players and sell as many. I think scouting trading started like this. Because they immediately understood that the club was too small to keep players, it was much more interesting to scout French and foreign players and create a laboratory."
On meeting Riccardo Pecini, a former executive at Monaco, Sampdoria and Spezia:
"He was more of a scout than a director. He started doing this job as a director at Monaco; he likes to see players live and on video. He's not someone who talks a lot, but he explains things well. The relationship was very professional; he needed a scouting coordinator, someone to organise the scouting department. It's a very interesting job; we had to start, and Riccardo gave me this opportunity without pressure. I was alone to do tactical work with Ranieri and coordinate scouting; in the morning, I worked with the coach and players, in the afternoon scouting. It was a daily job without rest, very intense and interesting."
Moncada on working as a video analyst:
"Analysing the opponent became very important. Every week there were at least three meetings with the team to analyse the opponent, the transitions, corner kicks, the strongest players... We worked more on the opponents than on scouting."
On doing scouting trips:
"During the week, I'd be in the office to organise and talk to agents and the sporting director. On Friday night, there's a match in the Belgian league, and I go there; on Saturday afternoon, there's a match, in the evening too, on Sunday as well. I'd return on Monday. When you travel, you meet other people working in the field: I've met many sporting directors, scouts, journalists who leave you information. I quickly realised that the important thing about seeing the players is only 10%, but you can understand many things about the family, the agent who gives you information... I did video work during the week, but it was important to go on weekends."
Moncada also spoke about his relationship with players:
"Video analysis was a novelty, and there were many foreign players; you spoke a mix of languages. All the players saw that I arrived humbly to show them things that could be developed to become stronger. I was fortunate to have players like Toulalan, Abidal, Falcao, James Rodriguez who asked me to see actions, performances, upcoming opponents after the match..."
Which players did you discover that you are most proud of?
"There was Tiémoué Bakayoko, Thomas Lemar, Benjamin Mendy, Djibril Sidibé, Valére Germain... Many French players who were there. We're proud as a scouting department because these players went on to play in the Champions League, win a championship, play a semifinal against Juventus. French players, but also foreigners: Fabinho, Bernardo Silva, Youri Tielemans, Sofyan Diop. They still play in big clubs. Lemar, Martial... We see the growth of the players when they learn more."
Which players didn't convince at first but then became excellent?
"A good example is Ismael Bennacer, who now plays with us at Milan. He started in a small club, Arles-Avignon, near Monaco, and we went to see him many times. Pecini liked him a lot, we followed him, but he immediately went to a big club like Arsenal and didn't play. It's normal in the Premier League; it's tougher. Then he came to Italy, grew a lot, and became very strong. He's an example: we should always give the players some time and take steps."
On how he joined AC Milan:
"It was the summer when Elliott came in and took over the club. They called me to be the chief scout; I had three meetings and arrived in December, worked three months with Monaco while thinking about Milan. The decision for me was already made, I had to talk to them and explain, and they understood, but it wasn't easy. When Milan calls you, and there's still so much to do, it's all very interesting."
Moncada continued:
"The level of work is very different. There's much more pressure here, a more important fan base. In Italy, there's always passion; everyone talks about football. In Monaco, nobody talks about football, they talk about cars and restaurants. We immediately saw that we had to do things well, find the right players. Create the work process."
On the work and scouting process:
"Most of us are here in Italy; it's important to have some foreign scouts who give you a different vision because we can't travel everywhere, we don't always have time. Today, as a technical director, we have more meetings, and we have all the reports in the database. When we've done all the video work and live scouting, I speak directly with Pioli and the staff, saying: 'This right-back, left-back, center-back is interesting, what do you think...'. There's an immediate relationship, and we did this in the summer. We worked on a profile of players; they must be physically strong, fast, powerful. These are the type of players we want. Then it depends on the market, how we can develop the team, solutions, budget, many things. But it's important to work with the staff and the coach; we do the same thing and want to have the same team."
How do you convince players to join Milan? Moncada replied:
"You have to know that there's incredible competition now. We're more or less on the same players. I think the minimum is to go see live matches four times, twice at home and twice away. We must have significant injury data, information about the player, mentality, family... The whole package to understand the player. When we have this information, I go to see the live match; I can also talk about tactics, but now players want to know about life in Milan. If a club has a great city, I can sell a good project: it's not just football; there are other important things. I'm happy because the message always goes across, and they understand well."
What do you look for in a player, behind the technical aspect?
"It's important to talk about this situation. Data helps us find players we don't know, but it's more important to go live because you see many things: speed, change of pace, strength... We must have a good profile; physically, they must run a lot, be very solid. I like this, then how they speak to me: if they talk about Milan, if they talk about themselves. I like to understand these things because we take a guy who goes into a dressing room of 25 players, and we have to create a mix, a culture all together", said Moncada, "I always say that the club is much more important than him; the important thing is Milan, not him. And you can immediately see if a player tells you that he's a star: we don't want a team of different profiles, we want to create a group."
On scouting Rafael Leao when he was at Monaco:
"At the time, I was a scout at Monaco and had prepared a plan for Portugal. In Lisbon, there was a youth domestic league match for Sporting. At that time, there were no videos or data on players; we had to go to the field to see players like that. I saw a guy wearing number 10, tall, fast, and technical. The famous Rafael Leao. It was a match against Belenenses, and I immediately saw a player with incredible talent. Then we followed him in the league and national team, but he didn't always perform well. It was hard to follow him closely. The most important thing for me at the end of the academy is when they go to play in the Youth League: when a player performs well there, we can immediately say that he will have a career. Leao did too well in the Youth League; he was on another level. The whole scouting world saw it and said: 'He will be a strong player'. And now he plays well; I'm happy because he's a guy who has grown."
Moncada commented on his work at Milanello:
"In the mornings, I attend the training sessions to talk to the coach and the staff; it's important to be close and understand what they need. The important thing for me is that I know the players because we've taken these players over two to three years; it's easy for me to talk to them to understand how they are, talk a bit about family, health, and the game. We always want to understand what we can do better. I'm always open with them, to understand the things we can develop: at Milanello on tactics, with the coach... That's why it's important to talk together: we only have time to talk among ourselves, we have to talk together to understand the situations to develop. And also with Giorgio Furlani, who is always with me, helps me a lot, and gives me a lot of space. He's also very open with them and wants to know things, he likes to understand if the player feels good in Milan and at Milanello, if he feels good physically. It's important for him and for us. We can't be sad here; we have a good life working for Milan."
On the importance of balance:
"A season is really long; we all have to stay calm and work. There are difficult moments, it's normal, maybe we play against a stronger team, there are injuries, problems, many things. When we win, we must respect everyone and work to win even more. For me, it's important to remain stable and go through the season until the end because there are many games to play."
On the project for the future, Moncada said:
"The idea is to create a group of strong players who work over three to four years. We need the academy to bring young and Italian players to help the team; it's very important. A project takes two to three to four years; if we make a good team, a good group, in two to three years, we win things. Now we've changed a lot; maybe next year we'll change two to three players, but at least we'll already have the basis of the team, which is important. We all want to win immediately, but it takes a plan to do things well and bring players, a strong group every year."
Who would you like to thank?
"There are many people. At Monaco, we had many directors; I learned scouting with Pecini and Luis Campos, they are more scouting directors. I also learned a lot with Antonio Cordon, a Spanish sporting director. He made me understand that the club must be a family, all together, all departments linked together. Everyone must be somewhat important in the group. This made me understand many things: if we have the club together, we can do many things. There's still work to be done."
