AC Milan have reportedly set a deadline for Ivan Gazidis to make up his mind about their €4m-a-year offer to leave Arsenal and join them as their new CEO.

Gazidis is mates with Paul Singer who is involved with Elliott Management which has recently taken over the Serie A club. That explains why they want Gazidis so much because there is little in his track record at Arsenal to suggest he is such a top CEO in world football, he’s worth waiting around for as he prevaricates.

The report in Calciomercato.com does not give any details of when this deadline might be.

According to the Times, Unai Emery is growing increasingly frustrated with Gazidis’ delay in making a decision.

The Times reported that Emery is not alone in his frustrations with the Arsenal CEO who has been linked with a move to AC Milan all summer.

Despite a statement from Sir Chips Keswick, and the issue rumbling for months, Gazidis has said nothing on the matter which seems a clear sign he is weighing up his options.

Gazidis is required to give Arsenal 12-months’ notice, however, most people in the industry believe that this would be significantly shorter as long as Arsenal could secure a suitable replacement

The move would, of course, be very surprising.

Gazidis has finally been handed the power he so desperately craved at the club. With Arsene Wenger stepping down, he is now the main man. But money turns heads and reports in the press claim Gazidis has been offered anything from £1m more per year to double his Arsenal salary to join the Italians.

It is also said that he has been offered a stake in the club, something he would never get at Arsenal.

paul singer
Singer at the World Economic Forum annual meeting, 2013

In August, Gazidis finally told the Arsenal board about the offer he received from AC Milan who have been taken over by Singer, an American billionaire hedge-fund manager, and friend of Gazidis.

It was also claimed last week that Gazidis finally got around to handing in his notice but that was denied by the club.

The Times also reported that Arsenal would ‘almost certainly put Gazidis on gardening leave should he choose to leave to join a European rival despite the fact that he has a 12-month notice period in his contract.’

‘Gardening leave’ is essentially a suspension on full pay for the duration of any notice period and is deployed to stop an employee from accessing confidential and sensitive information.

At present, there is nothing to stop Gazidis accessing whatever data he wants before making his decision.