Gerry Cardinale visited Milanello yesterday for a series of meetings, receiving very positive and important feedback from Mike Maignan and Adrien Rabiot.
Ever since it was revealed that Maignan and Rabiot would be on vacation for a little longer, questions have been asked about their commitment to the project. If you ask the involved parties, however, a mountain has been made out of a molehill.
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“Rabiot and Maignan had more days because they played more. Nothing will change. And it’s really important for me to say that it was my decision, not theirs,” Ruben Amorim said at the time.
That said, as pointed out by Gazzetta dello Sport this morning (see featured image), the owner Gerry Cardinale felt that a push was needed. He didn’t want any sort of question marks and thus met with the duo at Milanello yesterday, wanting to make them feel involved, engaged, and above all happy.
He arrived at Milanello just before noon on Friday and then left shortly after 6 pm. He spent that time with several group and individual meetings, including those with Maignan and Rabiot. To them, the American reiterated the ambitious direction of the project.
Positive day at Milanello
In the meetings that Cardinale had, both the group and individual ones, it was confirmed to him that there is a good atmosphere within the group and a shared enthusiasm about the season ahead. In other words, that’s exactly the feedback that he wanted and expected.
This was confirmed by key figures such as Matteo Gabbia, Strahinja Pavlovic, and Luka Modric, but it was important for the owner to hear it from Maignan and Rabiot as well. Especially since there were doubts about their commitment to the project, as said.
Given the above, Maignan will keep the captain’s armband for this season. While initially hurt by the departure of Max Allegri and the goalkeeping coach Claudio Filippi, the Frenchman is fully immersed in the project and has enjoyed his time in training so far.
All things considered, it was a very positive day at Milanello for Cardinale ahead of the season opener. So much so that he stopped outside the gates to take photos and sign autographs, uttering the words “Let’s win on Sunday!” before getting back in the car.
No.10 shirt could become vacant
For the time being, Milan can still count on the contributions of Rafael Leao, although it’s unclear for how much longer. He didn’t meet with Cardinale yesterday and is no longer considered to be one of the team’s key players.
However, the fact that his No.10 shirt was confirmed (as opposed to the numbers of other outcasts) suggests that his situation is somewhat different. He’s not out of the project at all costs, but Milan are still hoping to secure a transfer for him.
The suitors are the usual Galatasaray, while Fenerbahce cannot be ruled out either. There are also possible options in Saudi Arabia and the Premier League, but none of these leads has panned out to actual offers so far.
What is positive tell us? We have bigger team then Chelsea with 60% players who nobody want,or if want they dont want go because is that worst clubs.
So what is positive? We again not take scudeto and Champions league also will be missed because this team is garbadge( exept 5 or 6 players)
Appointing Maignan as captain and giving Rabiot the role of the team driving force means that Milan is finally acknowledging that the team has lacked “personality” in recent years. The logic of football is clear: if you don’t have players with mental fortitude in the core structure (goalkeeper defensive midfielder), Amorim attacking ideas will crumble at the first sign of counter pressing. The expected scenario (80%) stability in the dressing room under the leadership of the French duo (Maignan and Rabiot) and a strong, solid defensive start in the opening matches.
Cardinale is putting an end to the policy of appeasement; the club is clearly defining its new identity.