Football agent Enzo Raiola has made a comparison between former AC Milan chairman Adriano Galliani and former executives Paolo Maldini and Frederic Massara.
Speaking during an interview with Tuttosport (via Calciomercato.com) which centred on Gianluigi Donnarumma’s departure from Milan, Raiola also mentioned the player-handling of Giacomo Bonaventura and Alessio Romagnoli.
Whilst praising PSG president Nasser Al Khelaifi, Raiola mentioned that there is a similarity with how Galliani used to treat players and ensure that they felt wanted despite being injured.
“He reminds me of Galliani, it’s hard to find managers like that. By the way, before the Chinese owners left, Bonaventura had been promised a renewal but he had injured his knee. Here, Galliani, when a player got injured, the first thing he did to make the club feel close to him, was to renew his contract,” Raiola explained.
He then goes on to explain that Maldini and Massara did not operate in the same way and this was shown with the departures of both Bonaventura and Romagnoli, who are now very important players for Fiorentina and Lazio respectively.
“Instead, the Maldini-Massara duo did not give him that opportunity. The same applies to Romagnoli. Bonaventura is on the national team and Romagnoli is a pillar of Lazio,” he said.
The case of Romagnoli is interesting given Milan find themselves in a position where more defensive depth would be preferable, meaning they may need to enter the market in January.
Galliani was a dream for agents!
No the reality is that Maldini’s stance was EXACTLY what we needed.
He stood up to agents and mercenary players and forced them to see out their COMMITMENT to the club.
That is exactly what Milan is all about. We are not supposed to be a revolving door club. That is what mid table teams do. Top teams generally have lower turnover.
And in doing so he returned us to the Champions League and delivered a Scudetto after years of Galliani’s mismanagement.
But the media and therefore many fans completely missed this with their obsession over money, money, money.
Take Kessie. The media and therefore many fans (never wedded to reality) like to imagine that Kessie could and should’ve been sold for X imaginary Euros and then we would have used that money to sign Y Imaginary player(s) and that Y imaginary player(s) would’ve delivered an imaginary title (that was so much better than the actual title we win thanks in a large part to Kessie sticking around until the end of his contract).
Imagination always Donald Trumps reality.
Wow.🤔
You do realize that those players still left. So what is the point of all that mumbo-jumbo about low turnover?
How is it better for a player to leave on a free transfer instead of being sold a year earlier for money? Un what imaginary world you live in it is better to lose an asset for nothing instead of monetizing on it?
Hopefully you are not a financial advisor in the real life
We get 4-5 years out of players AND we force them to COMMIT to their obligations rather than pandering to their every whim.
We put the CLUB above the players.
Oh also I’ve got reality on my side. But yeah I’m the crazy one.
Well said!
Exactly right. Maldini, Massara, and let’s not forget Boban, brought this club back. They stood up to agents, players who thought they were bigger than the club, and even stood up to the owners. Results don’t lie. We balanced the books, won a Scudetto, and this is our third season in a row in the CL after 7 years of missing out. I don’t remember the situation with Jack but both Kessie and Romagnoli wanted to leave. Yes they left for free, but in exchange for helping us win the Scudetto
Preach it bro… and louder so people in the back can hear 😂
Balanced the books? WTF are you talking about? That was the ownership developing revenue streams. Never in the club’s history have we had so many partnerships. None of that has to do with Maldini and Massara. We only JUST turned a small profit since 2006 LAST fiscal year (2021-22). CL three years in a row? If it wasn’t for the clowns at Continassa we’d be in the EL right now and probably not turning a profit. If anything M&M delayed that process by losing Kessie, Romagnoli, Calhanoglu and Donnarumma for free. That’s like 200m in transfer fees.
Ah wait, you just said…
“That is what mid table teams do. Top teams generally have lower turnover.”
So you do actually acknowledge that transfers are an inevitable part of football, even if only for some? That is news to me and I suspect many others. Just the other day you shouted “TRADING IS NOT PART OF THE GAME”. Go figure.
Now take off your rose tinted glasses for a second and consider that, globally (financially speaking), we are not at the top table anymore. Globally, we are in fact an upper ‘mid-table’ team, and therefore our own high turnover (which is nowhere near as high as you like to suggest) was therefore equally inevitable.
You can’t have it both ways. We are either a humble, honest, local fan focused club (we’ve never been that btw, and not a single big club has) and accept high player turnover, or we continue building a club of the modern world, rejoin the top table and maybe then (much like the top English clubs have started doing) we can develop some one-club-men again. The scenario where we can do both only exists in your nostalgic fantasies.
Also I’ve never heard one single fan say we should have sold Kessie, not one. I’ve heard many curse the man blind for his now even more proven search for bigger pay checks, but I don’t know a single person who would trade the Scudetto (that we wouldn’t have won without him), for a few million Euros. That, again, is your fantasy.
I’ve never disputed the need for transfers to COMPLIMENT and IMPROVE the EXISTING squad but I continue to raise significant concerns about the volume of transfers both at Milan and in football general, and the fact so many are short term and in many cases utterly pointless.
Trading is, in fact, not part of the game of FOOTBALL. When the players step on the pitch there’s no trading just 11v11 and anything can happen.
The issue is that trading has become the game (and actual football a secondary or possibly tertiary concern).
The media and therefore SOME fans consistently criticise Maldini and Co for all of the imaginary money they lost not selling players, and in doing so play directly into the hands of the agents and the greedy players.
It’s almost as if agents and the media have a symbiotic relationship.
What a joke. Well at least Maldini Massara can’t do any more damage.
Just how damaging do you think the Scudetto was?
Of course he liked Galliani. Galliani had a blank check, Maldini and Massara had to operate with a meagre budget and wage cap. They also were told to limit commissions so of course greedy agents didn’t like them. Different circumstances, different eras
Exactly 💯💯💯
These are fairytale…
We all know Americans arrived in club. Their decision was to handle budget and increase of revenue. And that is fullstop.
Maldini job was to listen to American owner. That’s why players left. And that’s something what Gazidis confirmed.
Now the battle is even tougher. Competition is tough, results are Imperative and budget is still short.
Why is Enzo even talking? LOL!!! He was in the shadow of his brother all his life, now all of a sudden he is an expert and has a voice? 🙂 please…
This remaining Riaola is trying to portray himself important and necessary. Won’t he rather talk about how Agents like them have destroyed the careers of players they over estimated. Galliani we All know, but Maldini was the perfect prefect for our Team and Future.
So Enzo, stop talking RUBBISH and try to find answers to your downgraded players you now consider important.
Get rid of leao first thing in january 2024 and giroud after that and get 2 quality strikers …