AC Milan director Paolo Maldini has revealed some interesting market background regarding the most recent January and summer transfer windows.
Maldini spoke on stage at the 2022 Sport Festival in Trento and he was asked about a number of different topics as part of the event, including the decision to not sign anyone bar Marko Lazetic during the most recent January transfer window.
“I said this thing here at Christmas, we didn’t have a budget for the market: Juventus signed Vlahovic, Inter signed Gosens, then a small budget was made available. I said, ‘I don’t want it, we are strong as we are.’ It started from there,” he said (via MilanNews).
Maldini was also asked about the way that the summer transfer window was conducted, given that there were reports of having a budget of around €50m available thus giving the margins for just one big investment, that ended up being Charles De Ketelaere.
“The market is dynamic. We tried to sign Botman before Charles [De Ketelaere]. Had it happened we would have run out of our budget and turned to other players for that role,” he said.
“Our ideas in May compared to what happened in the end there is almost no common thread. At this point in our path we must not sign average players, but from a very high perspective: Charles is one of them.”
Maldini had already recently admitted that Milan turned down a non-official bid from Chelsea for Rafael Leao, and he was asked about whether other offers arrived for key players that were ultimately rejected.
“Yes. I told the other clubs to not even bother showing up. Theo? You said it (laughs). He is a very high level footballer. But not only for him, also for others. But we do not need a sale, the costs are okay. But players that cannot be sold no longer exist.”
