Since Gerry Cardinale decided to sack Paolo Maldini and Ricky Massara at the start of the summer, there has been a lot of focus on the alleged ‘Moneyball’ approach. Now the AC Milan owner has clarified the term.
Giorgio Furlani and Geoffrey Moncada took over the work of the sacked duo, signing a total of 10 players and parting ways with 14. In short, it was quite the turnover but Milan have performed on the pitch so far (3/3 wins).
Speaking in his long interview with CorSera’s Sette, which you can read in full here, Cardinale was asked about the Moneyball approach on the mercato. He made it clear that it’s very nuanced and not just about one guy with data.
“It is crucial to understand that data is just one of the tools in our ‘toolbox’. From what I read it seems that if you are a data expert then it means you don’t do scouting well. It’s ridiculous.
“Moneyball was written 20 years ago, today everyone uses data but in our portfolio there is an analysis company with 13 researchers from MIT [Massachusetts Institute of Technology]. European football is not baseball, it requires a different level of sophistication and we believe we are at the forefront,” he told the newspaper.
Milan will face Inter in the Derby della Madonnina tomorrow and it will be the first derby with both sides joint-first in the standings since 1962. In other words, it will be a very special one and Cardinale will be present at the stadium.
