AC Milan president Paolo Scaroni says Zlatan Ibrahimovic will be welcomed back to the club.

The former centre-forward retired at the end of last season as a Milan player and was back at the club last week to speak with his former teammates ahead of their Champions League opener against Newcastle.

Scaroni said: “Zlatan was also at the stadium on Saturday. He met (owner Gerry) Cardinale, he had a meeting with me and then with (Giorgio) Furlani. Now he is going on a gap year. When he is ready to accept a return hypotheses, we will be happy to explore them together with him."

He also told RAI: "Giorgio Furlani and I owe a lot to RedBird for the experts it makes available to us.

"The revolution is the result of the need for Milan and Italian football to be sustainable. The tycoon who pumps 100 million into the club no longer exists and if he did, he would be cut off by UEFA.

"Milan's ambition is to be sustainable before the transfer market. The '22-23 balance sheet is positive without the sale of (Sandro) Tonali and we aim for tidy accounts regardless of the market. The market can be a success or not.

"Last year we were not very happy with the purchases we made, now it seems to me that things are going for the better."