Paolo Maldini has spoken at length about his exit from AC Milan at the end of last season, recalling conversations with owner Gerry Cardinale and his work up until that point.
It was a crazy couple of days or so surrounding the last game of the 2022-23 season against Hellas Verona at San Siro, which started with Zlatan Ibrahimovic announcing his retirement as a player and getting an emotional stand-off.
Then, less than 48 hours after that win against Verona, it was confirmed that Maldini and his right-hand man Ricky Massara were being relieved of their duties as the technical and sporting director, plunging the project into question.
A period of uncertainty followed in which the reasons for the fall-out between Maldini and RedBird Capital were debated, as well as mystery regarding who would be taking over the reins ahead of a vital summer window.
CEO Giorgio Furlani, chief scout Geoffrey Moncada and sporting director Antonio D’Ottavio took over, selling fan-favourite Sandro Tonali but using the cash available to sign 10 new players and bolster numerous positions. Despite that, mystery still surrounded Maldini’s exit.
Now, the former defender has broken his silence on exactly what happened in early June. He spoke at length in an interview with La Repubblica regarding the split, sharing details on the motive and his reactions.
Paolo Maldini, why 6 months of silence after his dismissal from Milan?
“I would have talked about my gut, time allows for serenity. There are people passing through, without real respect for the identity and history of Milan. And there are others linked to its ideals. It would be better to keep them close.”
Were you expecting a divorce?
“If the club was sold for 1.2 billion and the owners want to change, they have the right. But people and roles must be respected. I had to find an agreement for my rights. The love for Milan remains unconditional. As Cesare’s son. As a former captain. From Christian and Daniel’s dad. And as a manager for five fantastic years.
“The information is not directed towards the truth: anyone who says otherwise knows they are lying to themselves. Luckily it seems to me that the public is not influenced.”
In Cardinale’s eyes you are an individualist…
“It is confused with the desire to be responsible for the decisions required by the role. Daily discussion is a blessing. A former top-level footballer is used to being judged every three days. As a manager I grew, in the first three months I felt useless. Leonardo told me: ‘You’re just learning. It is not easy to communicate with an American fund or a South African CEO’.”
Are you referring to the mercato?
“Nothing could be further from the truth than that sporting director Massara and I did not share objectives and strategies. Never had, nor wanted, signing power: not even for loans. Each purchase was endorsed by the CEO and owners.
“We chose the players, sometimes the budget disappeared. It is normal at times to interfere in sporting choices, which shift financial balances. The accusation of not having shared them is unfair. For Ibrahimovic many meetings were needed.”
Can you talk about that fateful June 5, 2022?
“Gerry Cardinale told me that Massara and I were fired. I asked him why and he told me about bad relations with CEO Furlani. So I said to him: have I ever called you to complain about him? Never.
“There was also a joke from him about the semi-final lost against Inter, but his motivations seemed a little weak to me. The so-called assumptions, the seasonal objectives, were: elimination from the Champions League groups, one round passed in the Europa League, qualification for the next Champions League.
“The Champions League semi-final brought in at least 70 million more revenues and record sponsors and ticketing. The newly approved balance sheet assets relate to the 2022-23 financial year, with the assumptions largely met.”
Did the controlling shareholder object?
“With him, in a year, just one chat, plus four messages from him. He said we had to trust each other. I did it: how it went is known. I believe that the decision to fire us had been made months before and there were those who knew it. The contract, two years with the option to renew, was signed to me on 30 June 2022 at 10pm: too unpopular to send us away after the Scudetto.”
What was Cardinale asking for?
“To win the Champions League. I explained that a three-year plan was needed. From October to February I prepared it with Massara and a consultant friend of mine: 35 pages of sustainable strategy and the need for a leap in quality, sent to Gerry, two of his very close collaborators and the CEO Furlani.”
The answer?
“None. Out of 35 purchases we are challenged on De Ketelaere, who was 21 years old. If you choose kids of that age, the failure rate is higher. They must be waited for, helped, pampered, taken back.
“On the other hand, after three months of work, Boban and Massara and I were called to London by the owners and CEOs and practically delegitimised: the various Leao, Bennacer and Theo didn’t like it. But a path was needed. I always remember where we started from.”
Can you summarise?
“In 2018-19: not a young and underperforming team. No Champions League for six years, squad worth around 200 million, wage bill of 150.
“In 4 years of restructuring with young players: market spending net of transfers 120 million, 30 per year and 15 per window, value of the squad rose to around 500, salaries dropped to 120 and then to 100 for 3 years, without being able to renew with Çalhanoglu and Kessié.
“And at the end of last season: three Champions League campaigns played in a row, Scudetto after 11 years, Champions League semi-final after 16, positive balance after 17. But if you’re on edge, one season is enough to ruin the previous work.”
What was the 2023-24 budget?
“There hadn’t been any talk about it yet in March and we can’t wait until June to plan the transfer market. Then, four days before the dismissal, Furlani very embarrassedly told me about a low budget: I took note of it. After our departure, the budget even doubled, net of the sale of Tonali, and the salary amount is finally in line with our plan: it must have become a source of inspiration!”
Would you have sold Tonali?
“We would have done everything we could not to let him go. We have never been totally against a major sale, but there was no need. We spent a fifth of the public domain value for Sandro and had to have heated discussions with the CEO and owners: the scouting area didn’t even want him.”
For Scaroni, without you, the working group is united…
“It bothers me how things are said. Milan deserves a president who only looks after its interests and managers who don’t leave the team alone. He never asked if the players and team needed encouragement.
“I often saw him leave when the opponents equalised or took the lead, perhaps just to avoid finding traffic, but punctually in the front row for the Scudetto. I have a different concept of sharing and groups. I can also say the same regarding the two CEOs, Gazidis and Furlani”
The algorithms?
“There is no need to use them to sign Loftus-Cheek, Pulisic and Chukwueze: just use the money that a team that finally has a turnover of 400 million deserves. You can’t compare the 4 previous markets with the last one, we had different weapons.
“Sustainability? With Boban and Massara it was stimulating to cut salaries by 30%, renew the squad and increase its value with the Scudetto and three years of Champions League, after seven without.”
Maldini, did your dynasty stop on June 5th?
“I don’t know, a 36-year bond is too strong and will remain forever: history cannot be erased. I say thank you to life and to Milan. I see a new era represented, a Berlusconi 2. A review of the Italian history of the last 40 years, political and entrepreneurial? I said it before my leave: today you are in charge, but please respect Milan’s history.”
Sheeesh!
I enjoyed this too much.
Top interview given by a world-class footballer and a good manager.
Maldini forever!
Wait! Let me get my popcorn first
I think it’s movie? Based on true story and unleashed the untold facts behind the june dismissal scene.
I’m here for the comments
Time reveals the truth. Just wow.
Forza Maldini.
Forza Milan
#cardinaleout
#furlaniout
Negative…
Still, forza Milan and Paolo
Maldini is very patient and wise. He waited until Milan was in a really bad spot before he started pouring it out..
still rubs me the wrong way how he went out, i guess it always will
I doubt he waited. It must have been in his contract that on leave he’s not to hold a public interview about ACM. In Italy dismissal of managers/directors goes with a gardening leave of a3, 6, 12 months.
That the interview is held at this time when Milan is in a really bad shape is purely by coincidence. i like his arguments though. Very well though out.
A person of his character, who uncompromisingly stands his ground, smart in approach and and yet speaks softly will often be misunderstood. That he has Milan history on his side will definitely unsettle the most unshakable owner/bosses.
I guess football and Berlusconi spoilt him. You can’t play football on lies, cutting corners or procrastination. Berlu realised this from the get go. No wonder he died a very decorated president. Football is played on 2 pitches. Grass and Trust.
Let’s wait this one out.
Prediction: The Singer family might take over the club at some time in future.
Well said!
Soon this people will fall(pioli etc) and sell the club to Arabian people and bring back our maldini❤️🖤
what a move by Maldini… he know when to speak and when to shut his mouth.. Nice punch on the face of cardinale and Furlani (And all his disciples who hate maldini who praised carinale for firing maldini…did kids dont know what Milan is made up of ). Eat the dust.. while we eat popcorn.
Honesty never dies.
Cardinale just undid 4 years of serious work. I can’t wait for him to pack up and leave. As always: forza Milan per sempre!
Maldini is Milan!
He is a man of class, dignity, experience and great capability.
It was interesting to see Thiery Henry, Carragher and Micah Richards at the San Siro when they met Maldini, they were in AWE!
Money can not buy a legend like that, he was forged in the heat of San Siro battle.
What a loss!
It has been obvious since the takeover that the new owners are the root cause of many serious issues.
#CardinaleOut
Gentleman in every way, when most would mouthed off everyone around them, he refused to do so, despite that snake Furlani which i always suspected was behind all this, however he is proving more useless than all put together.
What can you expect from Furlani? A guy who has NEVER made any Real thing in this Real world in his whole life except paper-pushing financial schemes to trick people for their money.
Diaz looked good for Madrid against Napoli didn’t he?
🤣🤣🤣🤣, this is the most sad attempt yet. What, nothing better to say? I love this genius.
So out of all the things we read here, this is your comment? Really?
On the hand, what else to say? Truth hurts.
Yeh it’s called sarcasm. Looks like it makes goofballs like Martin sorry “Tjoke” or whatever pseudonym he’s using now throw another hissy fit.
Everyone got your sarcasm, we are just commenting how sad of a person you are and laughing at it. Whatever a ” hissy fit” is, I guess it happens to you whenever you see Maldini. You can’t be that pathetic.
Oh my god this is so boring why are my fingers typing a reply to Martin AGAIN? I like how you don’t even bother deny it 😊. What kind of goofball gets so burned on a site he has to leave and come back under a different name? Even Ollie Fisher had to step in the other day to call you out on your BS.
I’ve already told you why, you just don’t get it. It is because you’re a sad person. Your feelings are hurt because people support Maldini. I already told you, you need to grow a pair of balls, you are missing them.
You mean when Oliver replied to me and I showed his phrases from articles and I was 100% right? The “save of the year” description for the shot that hit him in the head? Ok. The thing is I called him out and he responded, that is how it went. 😀
lol 💯💯
He did. Madrid won 4-2 and he got 4 out of 5 stars rating.
If only we could keep Diaz and Tonali, probably we could have a different results against Dortmund and other matches where we draw or lost…
WTF?????
Tonali make a difference against Dortmund?
Tonali is suspended for 7 months for gambling in football!!
What universe are you living in?
Milan made out like bandits in that deal with Newcastle.
Tonali is suspended for 10 months, not 7 months.
Wasnt very hard to understand all these not even back then.
Mascots will come and go,legends never die.
Maldini is a true legend furlani wants him out god knows why they were planning bad against him
Furlani is a banker. A banker that had 0 idea about football 5 years ago. Let’s see how many titles in Serie A and CL will he bring to Milan.
Now we are bottom of the group and grinding results in the league
After spending 100M by Furlani and Cardinale.
What a poetic retribution for these financial bandits’ dishonesty and incompetence
1. Real fans will never forget who brought this team back. It was people with football knowledge and love for the club; Leonardo, Maldini, Massara, and Boban. They always put the club first and risked their jobs standing up to owners and greedy players/agents. Leonardo showed them the ropes. Boban’s public stand against Ragnick was heroic. Maldini and Massara sending the message “If you don’t want to be here, you are free to leave, but be professional until then”. They created the right atmosphere for Pioli and the players who acheived great results.
2. The statement “We have never been totally against a major sale, but there was no need” is how a lot of fans felt about the transfer market. All we needed were four quality players; One striker, one right winger, one attacking midfielder, and one defensive midfielder. Colombo, Messiahs, Salamaekers, De Ketelaere, Krunic, Gabbia, would have been decent options off the bench.
3. “Out of 35 purchases we are challenged on De Ketelaere, who was 21 years old”. They were looking for an excuse to fire them. Say what you want but Scudetto, three years in a row of Champions League football, and a Champions League semi-final is success for a club that has disappeared form the world stage for seven years.
4. Judged on De Ketelaere and maybe Origi, yet the current management have spent 100 million on ten players, only two of whom has delivered so far (Pulisic, Sportiello). As for the others, I guarantee you a minumum of three exits, and at least two of the new midfield trio will not be starters next season.
5. Maldini is very classy in his answers. His side of the story is presented with concrete numbers and his opinions are congruent with what we’ve seen play out so far this season.
Very well said indeed, to the point 100%.
There many other (a bit smaller) things to take way lbut these are the highlights.
I would also add the general issue: Gerry (and his team) never wanted Maldini, from day 1. They basically made it as hard as possible to force the exit.
It’s so naïve to talk about specific players (like CDK or Origi or anyone) when it was so obvious that he was not wanted at all.
@Sheva Milan even with Puli the jury is still out. And basically replaces Tonali’s offensive output plus a little more. So how improved are we really. And Sportiello was signed directly by Maldini too lol
Well said.!
Second everything you’ve said, sheva milan!
@sempremilan
Make this news story as the main front page for the whole of this week. Let’s see how many comments we get.
Forza Maldini
Forza Milan
Key Points:
• Maldini’s love for Milan remains unconditional.
• Each purchase was endorsed by the CEO and owners, Maldini didn’t act on his own in transfer market.
• The reason Maldini was fired is because Furlani want more power.
The implication of the first point is:
If you are Maldini fan, you have to love Milan even when it’s being controlled by those who fired him.
As someone new to AC Milan (4 years) I really appreciate that bit of wisdom. Gonna read up on Maldini a bit more. Thanks!
💯💯💯💯💯
Forza MIlan
Forza Maldini
A South African CEO😢I’m South African Paulo, and we don’t claim Gazidis. He was just born there.
But if I’m gonna try to be objective, Gazidis and his cheap ways have benefited us medium term, all the money saved etc. it should have then catapulted the likes of Furlani to elevate and spend because the foundation was solid.
I don’t wish any chaos on the club, I really wish Polo could somehow find that form we used to have Covid, post lockdown time.
I think we all remember how it was.
Furlani is counting on Polo even more now cause it seems he was the puppet master, and all his eggs rest on Pioli.
An interesting article, I’m glad I heard Maldini’s side.
Furlani is in for one hell of a test this season! Let’s see if he can deal.
Forza Milan
Look how tables have turned this is why you don’t disrespect our best ever player. (this is for the people here)
God dang. Maldini is back and swing a big home run with these infos.
I already said: FVCK Cardinale and his puppets Furlani and Scaroni the moment they fired Maldini and sold Tonali.
The sad thing is Pioli got caught in the middle of cross fire. He definitely support Maldini becaused Maldini was the person who brought him to Milan. But as a professional, he also wants to keeps his job and works without involved himself in the club politics.
Thank God they sold Tonali. What a mess this team would be now if they kept him. Or are you forgetting that he is an idiot who bet on games he was playing in and is suspended for a year. Not to mention incredibly overrated. The Tonali sale was the smartest thing this management has done.
Ah yes the clueless and ignorant K 🥱
Clever. The response of a fool who can’t intelligently defend his position.
And by the way it was reported that it was Maldini who wanted to get rid of Pioli and bring in Pirlo and that was part of the reason for the firing. So I don’t think Pioli “definitely supported Maldini”. But keep making up your own narrative.
Bla bla fkin bla. Another fool who believe silly rumor about Maldini wants to get rid off Pioli and replaced him with Pirlo who was doing bad at that time with a Turkey team. Yeah that make sense especially AFTER Maldini offered Pioli to signed a new contract too.
Oh btw, Pirlo is doing back with Sampdoria at Serie B right now. They’re at 13th place. So, go watch Sampdoria and explain to me with the most logical way if Pirlo is the best replacement for Pioli.
“K” stand for kid. No wonder you have a childs brain lol.
Well that report also made it clear it was also just a friendly talk between two friends indicating that it wasn’t really a thing and if so probably far out in the future. Even made clear by pirlo himself later on in a different interview.
C’è solo un capitano!
F*ck sleezy snake Furlani, coward Moncada and that murican ginny Cardinale. Serves you well.
Hahaha Damn this got to be one of if not the absolute favourite articles of mine ive ever read on SempreMilan, it was pretty much like a heavy weight title match where maldini pummeled the entire management.
Aaaaand the world heavy champion is by unanimous decision still Paolo Maldini 😛
I think a lot of us had the feeling that had we not won the scudetto in 21/22 they would probably have already sacked them back then because cardinale and his crew wanted to leave their own mark and paint a picture where they were the reason for the clubs success. Now they are even caught lying to us.
I wonder when we will actually see cardinale and his merry men at the stadium again and if there will be a reaction from the spectators.
Sadly i think not. Curva come cheap and they already expressed their feelings toward Paolo in his last match in 2009.
At least we, who care about this club and its tradition got satisfaction. I was really hoping he will come out and speak. We were never given proper answers to why he was kicked out through thge back door. Now it’s clear. Sleezy banker snakes.
I doubt it will happen either but quite frankly those who whistled at him at his farewell should be beaten to a bloody pulp in my view. One of the most degraceful treatments of a club legends in the history of the sport but if i remember correctly it was a now closed down fraction of curva sud not to say that there isnt a bunch of them there still.
Well Cardinale is well know for lying. Do you remember how he celebrated the title in Milan when he was young and all the stories? Fake. Dude is a liar. Someone in PR told him it is good that he says that and he did.
I do and i also voiced my opinion on that back then as his comment was rather self contradicting if i remember correctly.
I don’t think we will see Cardinale and his puppets at the stadium for a very long time. I mean, Maldini pretty much lit the fire under their ass with this interview. I doubt they want to be seen by an angry mob.
The sad thing is this will have an affect for the players too especially the ones who didn’t agreed when Maldini got fired like Theo, Benna, and Leao. We could lost these three next season if they think it’s not worth playing for Milan under stupid owner like Cardinale. Heck, i can see Furlani smile like a bast*tds when he announced Theo, Benna, and Leao sold to EPL or PSG. We already seen an article where he keeps talking about selling Milan core players not long ago 🙁
Yes, bankers like money. Nothing new.
Fvck Bankers. They’re snake in human skin.
Well said!!!
I think it has always been in the cards that we would sell some of those players so it wouldnt really come as a huge surprise to be honest.
I’m new to the financial side of all that is a club, but naively it seems that if we miss on the €115m from progressing in the CL then the only way to fund the project is with such a sale.
If we manage to go through then it becomes more interesting if a big sale happens and why.
Seems like Maldini put the blame mostly on Furnali, potraying Cardinale as being misled by Furlani.
Well to be fair i think a lot of the management was knock outed by his comments but sure there is deffently a severe blow to furlani as well.
This is a great day for Milan fans haha
Paolo as himself; wise, pondered, honest. Let’s see if it becomes another PR nightmare for the club. Are you not entertained, asks Jerry? Sure. Let’s make the players and the coach wear red noses now.
😀 it does seem so that pr nightmare is brewing.
I like it, the champ has spoken!!
It was and still is upsetting to true rossoneri how our legend was treated.
He was disrespected from the day Redturd took over and ruined the 2022 league win by stalling the transfer market.
I have never trusted them and never will.
How do you get rid of these parasites?
Forza Maldini
I never liked it and never will. One thing is to sack him which can and do happens in the coorporate business world but the way it was done and now clearly showcase that they have been smearing his image and lying to us is by NO way acceptable and im pretty much again as angry as i was in june.
I haven’t watched a single Milan game this season since they fired Maldini.
Also part of my protest, I am not going to buy any commercials (jersey, etc.) from this club till these cheating financial bandits leave our club.
Well i can sorta see the argument why you wont support them monetarily but not watching the matches doesn’t really make sense if you already have a tv subscription where its included and if not then you could still also just stream it from some unpaid site.
Even Maldini himself implied he is still a fan and always will stay one so i assume even he watches the matches. If you wont watch the matches while Cardinale own the club you will have to wait to see them again for maybe the next decade and i for one has been an AC Milan fan for over 30 years so i would have a difficult time to do so even if i wanted to follow suit,
I got a weird feeling at the time when Maldini and Massara’s contracts were literally signed at the 11th hour. Then there were confusion whether all signings need to be approved by Elliott or Redbird, as they are supposedly taking over in September effectively IIRC. Then the embarassing trip to Brugge, where MM came back empty handed.
Since then I couldn’t help to shake that their works were undermined – and the feelings grew even bigger when we only signed an unknown GK outta nowhere during January fiasco.
Not to mention the dwindling warchest which was initially rumoured to be somewhere in the region of 80-100M, then it dropped to 60M, then to 35M a few weeks after. Considering how much money we earned from CL runs, to have lesser budget than the previous season is ridiculous at best.
Then came June 5th. And I haven’t raged that much since.
Yeah the finances was questionable considering all of our success and improvements of commercial deals which already happened under the helm
of maldini.
@martin “I wonder when we will actually see cardinale and his merry men at the stadium again and if there will be a reaction from the spectators”
Don’t worry they’ll leave the game if it’s drawing if we’re losing 🤪
😀 yeah that was a pretty hillarious comment in regard of scaroni and especialy considering his comment of heavy traffic afterwards.
That was quite the zinger.
Maldini Don keep quiet to much.
Let the man speak. Dem Wan demonize am, turn am to another anti christ
Wow.
Thanks for this.
I don’t think I need to post again. Maldini has covered it all (even if he did make a few too many transfers….).
Thanks for this piece. Finally some closure.
So now there are two sides of the stories presented here. Of course, naturally, I would trust my capitano who had defended our colours for decades than some bankers.
Any Milan fans who gonna believe the bankers words over Maldini are insane.
There are many many insane and gullible so called fans who gobbled up what Gery and Foolani were serving
One of the insane is K up there who thinks Gery and Foolani made the right decision to sold Tonali 🤦♂️
These people and their hindsights. And it’s also ironic that they didn’t want Tonali in the first place (” the scouting area didn’t even want him “) but yet benefitted from his sale the most (the same buy low-sell high approach they’re trying to use over the summer but doesn’t seem to be working out) to buy their current new toys. Haha ridiculous!
K? Bro I dont even pay attention to that dude. He probably threw in something about Krunic in there knowing him. His whole world revolves around that guy. Once he steps out of his comfort zone clearly he’s in over his head.
Anyone arguing that the sale of Tonali was not a good move is a completely biased fool.
Even before he was banned for a year for being a degenerate gambler and betting on games he was playing in, it was a great move. Since then it looks absolutely brilliant.
First of all Tonali was highly overrated by fans and media because he was the Italian Golden Boy and they are in desperate need of a new Italian superstar and sentimental fools like you fall in love with the fact that he liked Milan as a boy.
Newcastle way overpaid for him as they soon found out, he had already lost his starting spot there before his suspension.
Second of all, we finished 5th in Serie A last season and the midfield was the biggest reason why. an upgrade was needed. The sale allowed the team to bring in much needed talent and depth. RLC is better than Tonali. We were also able to bring in Musah who will develop into a good young player. Pulisic and Reijnders too.
The squad is stronger for it. But you keep shedding tears for the disgraced Italian golden boy.
You mean the Cardinale fart-sniffing bunch?
Lol throw back to the south park episode 😂😂😂
They are shills brought by the new managerment to supress the opions from the true fans, who are basically against the broken Cardinale and his stooge Frulani as well as the clueless Scaroni.
I believe every word Maldini says. He has true love for these colors as we do. A lot criticize Maldini’s work but what milan were when he started to what they are now, his work completely changed them and he should have been given a shot with this new budget. To everyone else its just business but his true passion lays with milan being back amongst the best. He has no reason to hide, to tell lies. I’m glad he called out everyone because the way we threw out an absolute legend is dispicable. Especially him saying that he and massara made a 35 page plan and nobody seemed to even look at it or told them nothing, or that cardinale only met with him once and barely came in contact tells me everything I need to know.
Cardinale told him he wanted the Champions League. So why didn’t you give him his three year plan to achieve that? Instead you’ve just delayed us a few more years and hopefully this new owner doesn’t put us back into a banter era. Shameful treatment of a man who did so well.
Probably the most hilarious part is Jerry who wants to win the Champions League. This guy knows nothing about football, he just wants to turn the club into an entertainment company like US sport franchises.
The scary part is that Scaroni, Furlani and Moncada, who advise Jerry, could very well be driven by their own interest, and not the one of the club. It’s a common story in football these days. Marseille, PSG in France, the executives are just doing crazy sht, conflicts of interest, waves of transfers on which they grab a commission, while the actual owner is far, doesn’t understand anything and just pay. In the end the club becomes a mess.
He wants to win the CL with Furlani heading the recruitment team and 20M signings. You have to a completely football-wise stupid finance guy from the US to think it is possible. And we have one…
Pure LEGEND. Pure CLASS. We now know the full story. As I said it’s an owner’s right to hire and fire who they chose but the manner in which it was done and the smear campaign by that fat old bastard Scaroni embarked on about non-collaboration was a lie and embarrassing for a club with our history. I’m glad Maldini finally dropped the mike on that phony Scaroni.
For all those that bash the CDK signing as a justification for firing M&M – just remember what he said – ownership also didn’t want Leao, Theo and Benny lol. Just think where we would be without them. Nobody gets every transfer right period and some take time to develop.
Balanced books, lower wages for squad 3 consecutive UCL appearances, one Scudetto and a semi-final UCL appearance. Not too bad on a shoestring budget.
Now all the pressure is on Georgie boy. No one else to blame. So far not looking great. On the verge of UCL exit, struggling in league, struggling to score, put all power in the hands of Pioli despite being ill-equipped, summer transfer window not producing as expected. Hope it turns around. But if it doesn’t head should role and Fulani should be fired. Period.
We will also see this summer what kind of owners we have. Will we invest on our own or SELL more stars to do it and buy young cheaper talent or talent with questionable health concerns like this past summer. Time will tell. Your on the clock Gerry and we will all be watching
Sadly I think Furlani will take credit of the financial turnaround and the new sponsorship contracts. That’s his job as a banker. Pioli will be the scapegoat because he’s in charge of the field. Even if the team lacks talent, the executives will charge him. Furlani stabbed Paolo in the back, he can very well do the same with Pioli, especially to save his own job.
Absolutely agree. Furlani will take the credit for all the groundwork Gazidis did on the commercial side. Pioli will be the scapegoat – but he hasn’t exactly done himself any favors with questionable tactics, substitutions and selections. But agreed – Moncada and Furlani are Gerry’s golden boys. As long as they continue to get cheap young talent or veteran players on the cheap because of questionable injury history – they will not be replaced. This isn’t the model. Develop young talent and sell for profit then reinvest like we did with Tonali. That is the model like Dortmund.
That’s why i only laughed at people who wants Pioli to be fired. The biggest problem isn’t Pioli but the upper management which are Cardinal and his puppets; Furlani and Scaroni.
It doesn’t matter how good the new managers who will replaced Pioli, as long as this club still at Cardinale and Furlani hands then it will not going anywhere except falling down.
Nah man, Pioli was doing Pioli things even at the height of the Maldini era. Say what you will about everyone else, but Pioli is not up to it, Maldini or not. There was even the reports about Maldini/Massara wanting to replace Pioli with Pirlo. Say what you will about Pirlo, the point is they also recognized Pioli as being insufficient.
Lol you believed bullcrap rumor from Calciomercato who claim Maldini wants to replaced Pioli with Pirlo AFTER Maldini asked Pioli to renew the contract back in 2022. Maldini knows last season Pioli can’t be fully blame because he didn’t get enough good players from the mercato.
Like come on, read the fking interview of how angry Maldini when he didn’t get the budget and Cardinale asked him for Champions League trophy with young kids like CDK.
Which financial turnaround and new sponsorship? Do you know how much that increased? Check again, it is an improvement but almost negligible compared to prize money. Milan made profit because of the CL money. Without it the club would have a 100M loss. With all the “financial turnaround”. In 2018/19 Milan had 241M in revenue, and last season it was 400M, the CL money was over 110M. Most of the money is that. The only thing they did to make the situation better is cut costs so Milan can pay for costs from the revenue. The “commercial” revenue has increased by 50ish M, but when? After the Scudetto win, not because these bankers did something great. It was the team on the field again, like it is always in football.
If you want top sponsors play in the CL semi finals or finals for a couple of years, it will double or triple the sponsorship amounts offered to the club. It is common sense.
If you don’t believe me find the data and do the math. Tell me how much did they increase income since 2018/19, excluding the CL prize money.
I agree that Elliott did most of the job with M&M to be financially safe, but this management will tell its own story (propaganda). How the club doesn’t lose money anymore, how they reached the US market with Pulisic, the summer tournament, the collabs with NY Yankees and sh!t, how they signed many sponsorship deals, how they are building a new stadium despite the evil mayor of Milan.
It’s all about communication. See how fat fck Scaroni emphasized recently that the stadium won’t be built with public money but private funds. Jerry has built stadiums in the US with public money, if he could he would do the same here.
the thing is, the same people advising Cardinale with their analytics are the ones that told them not to give Maldini the amounts he wanted to offer Donnaruma, Hakan and Kessie in their renewals.
It is a known fact Jimmy Bean, Mr Moneyball, uses, developed some of Redbird’s IP that had the final word over Maldini’s recommendations while Elliot was there too. Bean was involved with them and hindered Maldini’s ability to do his job by forcing him to try to re-sign the players. Maldini probably told players if we performed those seasons they were up for renewals and acocmplished the teams goals, we would have the financial means to offer them fair contracts based on projections so he saw no need to sell them. Then the ownership refused to allow him to use the extra budget to compensate the players. Maldini knew our players were pushed beyond their limits for years and deserved every dime they requested. They kept moving the goalpost on him.
People act as if those three asked for 15 million in wages per season each. Kessie wanted 5.5 to 6. Same for Gigi, and Hakan about 3.4 to 3.6. Those were way less than clubs would offer eith their eyes closed. They didn’t want to give those amounts because it put us over a self imposed salary cap of 4.5 million maximum per player. This is the smae thing Gazidis did with Van Persie at Arsenal. That was predetermined because they wanted certain numbers on their balance sheets to push through a sale of the team with a certain margin of income to expenditures. It wasn’t because it wasn’t sustainable for the club, FFP or because we couldn’t afford to spend more. ELLIOTT, JIM BEAN AND GAZIDIS SAID ANYTHING OVER 4.5 IS A NO. THE COMPUTER SOFTWARE SAID HAKAN WAS WORK X AMOUNT, his agent was asking for 200 k more. They let him walk. Maldini would have never said no to the only player on our team with his set piece skills for a discrepancy of 200 k a year that could get 1 to 1.5 million more anywhere else easily.
@Juro we had to listen to these imbeciles go on and on about how Maldini wanted power and that he did his own thing (I ofc and other sensible ppl knew this to be “balderdash” according to Martin Bernhard). I’m glad he straightened that out. If anything it’s Furlani that had been and still been doing his own thing and wanting power now that there isn’t that non-yes-man voice in Maldini. Gave them free reign to run amok in the summer for average targets that somehow people thought were the second coming. Sheesh.
“ownership also didn’t want Leao, Theo and Benny ” you can also add Tonali in there too. I love that dig to our Super Scout Moncada
“We spent a fifth of the public domain value for Sandro and had to have heated discussions with the CEO and owners: the scouting area didn’t even want him”
The scouting area didn’t want him…yet for all he’s the one that got them all their shiny new toys in the summer.
Matter of fact it seems they didn’t want Ibra too and now they want him. I wonder what Ibra thinks of this
“The accusation of not having shared them(choices on potential transfers) is unfair. For Ibrahimovic many meetings were needed”
They didn’t want Tonali even with 1/5 of his market value. That’s the craziest part right there. Now we see Moncada from a different perspective.
That’s insane! I have a whole new outlook on Furlani too. That mfcking weasel. I tend to hold back on the insults for them but not anymore. They have it coming.
They had to have several meetings for Ibra too?! Wow
Don’t be stupid. (i know that’s hard for you) Acting like bringing back a 38 year old striker who just spent a year and a half in MLS after a severe knee injury was a no brainer. It worked out wonderfully, but there was definitive reasons to question that move. If you remember most of the pundits were laughing at Milan when they signed him. Of course Ibra has the last laugh but lets not pretend now that it was some obvious decision then.
Hahahaha say you don’t know football without saying you don’t know football. You still think we brought back Ibra to score goals. How cute! Is that from the Foolani school of Business? Or Moncrapa analytics?
Yes sir!! All of them are noticeably quiet now. Shameful. Moncada and ownership didn’t want Theo, Leao, Benny, Tonali LOLOLOLO. Fkn embarrassing. We didn’t need to sell Tonali? Scaroni left early to beat the traffic??? Don’t need moneyball to know to sign Pulisic??? Hahahahaha!!! EPIC bombs dropped by Paolo!!!
Little boy Furlani is the problem and because Gerry is an absent owner – he takes his advice from little Georgie boy and that fat old do nothing bastard Scaroni. Horrible.
Ya for all those who screamed Furlani and Moncada were “cooking” this summer – ya just think where we would be without the groundwork laid by M&M. You don’t take a semi final UCL team and tear it apart. All we needed was 4 quality signings to complete the team and compete for UCL – yes sir. Maldini knew that having won it many times. Furlani will never understand. He’s a banker and apparently has a “little man complex”. But the MO of this ownership is to make $$ not win titles. Can’t wait till we off load Benny, Theo Mike or Leao this summer to raise money esp if we miss out on the UCL knock out stages. Disgusting
Your rant does not make sense.
The only player of note from the “semi final UCL team that got torn apart” was Tonali, and look how that turned out. The guy is suspended for 10 months for gambling on football, after Milan got €70 million for selling him to Newcastle.
How is that a bad deal for Milan?
Bennacer got a major knee injury in the UCL semi final. That was not the fault of Cardinale or Furlani.
Yes, Bennacer was a key part of the team, as was Tonali, and so the sale of Tonali went to bring in Reinjnders, RLC, and Musah, as well as Pulisic. The sum total of all of that has been more than the loss of Bennacer and Tonali.
And, Bennacer is coming back.
Other things have factored into the negative results – Leao and Giroud and Theo have not been as productive. The new midfielders, Chuk, and Jovic have not scored much. The defense has collapsed from injuries.
That’s not “tearing apart a semi final UCL team”, unless you still think CDK, Origi, and Salad, who all got the boot, were going to step up their minuscule contributions to the team
“The sum total of all of that has been more than the loss of Bennacer and Tonali.” Yet after all that nonsense , we are one win less and the one loss more with less goals scored. If it takes 4 guys to replace 2, even Foolani math can’t spin those numbers.
You do understand the players that got them the Scudetto and the deep run in the UCL a year later they didn’t want in the first replace…. Bennacer, Leao, Theo, Tonali, etc. smh
Go back and read the interview
We already generated 100 million more income than anticipated in our budget, prior to selling Tonali. If anything, his sale pushed Chuk over the line. Keeping CDK and going for Dominguez at 15 million would have been just as good, less expensive. Raindeer didnt have a market value of more than 14 to16 million, when Maldini was in, he had a deal for RLF at 15. They all put the prices up after we sold Tonali at the start or the summer. We shot outselves in the foot by selling him early. We could have signed everyone under 100 million if we didn’t sell Tonali first.
I don’t think scaroni is the problem. All he is in milan is a title or face. He used to work for Elliott and they needed a president and hired him, don’t think he has much say in what goes on besides maybe the stadium project. He probably doesn’t even care about on field situations
He was the one that said Maldini created disharmony…and now the management and scouting team works as a group.fck him too
Sure, I was just trying to say he’s irrelevant lol
This “is” the model *
Bombeshell, naked truth, zlatan take heed, money, money, and more money, ac milan was literally sold
Zlatan will high kick someone within 2 months. Just remember what I said, he has no filter and doesn’t care about Cardinale or anyone like that.
😀 yeah he already kicked a much bigger American than Cardinale when he fought Onyewu at training so that should come as a warning. Kidding aside if they think Maldini was too openmouthed and whom i consider one of the true gentlemen in the sport like m.laudrup or steven gerrard then hiring ibra certainly comes with more potential issues as you already made it clear that Ibra just isn’t gonna parry orders like that if he doesnt agree with it,
Wonder what Ibra must be thinking now. Took many meetings and heated conversations for Maldini to get him? The same people trying to hire him now knowing very well they never wanted him in the first place.
I remember the first time around when Maldini was asked why he didn’t take a role in the club after he retired..he basically said well the role wasn’t properly defined, he needed to be important , a protagonist and he didn’t want to just be a figure head just for the sake of his legacy.
I’m pretty sure Ibra is going through the same thing right now. Probably why it’s taking so long for him to sign. Gerry only wants him as a mascot, there to show ppl that he “cares” about Milan past even though he fired the biggest Milan legend. He’s hoping the new fans would attach themselves more to the more current legend not realizing the history of Milan. He wants the Ibra effect on the team without Ibra making too much noise otherwise lol. I can see right through that. Good luck with that Clowndinale
All you Maldini haters can go suck a nut!
Smearing the man’s good name this entire time. I knew these ppl were full of it. Also that smug backstabbing motherfcker Furlani eh, Gerry was told by him he has problems smh. Maldini as I figured had to sit by and watch people smear his name but you know what they say…when the grass is cut the snakes will show. Whole summer we had to deal with these articles of how he didn’t get along, this that and the third and all that nonsense. Never heard his side but people took to one side smh
Well I certainly always trusted Maldini over this shower of parasites! For good reason, he has the club’s interest at heart
Interesting how the narative was Pioli wanted him out, well it seems obvious now that Maldini has respect for Pioli but none for the rest of those back stabbing ba5tards
1000% buddy
Well said!!! 💯💯💯💯💯
What Maldini spoke about really appeals to what most people thought had happened but couldn’t really confirm. Yet we had to sit here and take this drivel.
The amount of burns in the interview though…but from the gate he explains it best “There are people passing through, without real respect for the identity and history of Milan. And there are others linked to its ideals.”
Where are the Maldini haters at.
Who called him faildini @Boulden.
Or always believed his achievements were failures and or meant to sink the club.
Is there nothing to say now that the man has finally spoken up.
Where are the gullible sillies who believed that every decision was solely M/M, without input from ownership or any other management. Especially the bad ones. Every woes were brought by M/M and all success was orchestrated by the all father Gerry Cardinale😒🙄.
And what’s sad even steady heads like @Dejan10 were into occasionally bashing Maldini like he was the entire architect.
Oh well Forza Maldini/Masara
Forza Ac Milan
Forza Ac Maldini 😌
It was obvious that with @Boulden, something was not right. He seemed like a bot paid to attack Maldini any time the name is mentioned.
As for @Dejan10, he became a Cardinale fart-sniffer.
It’s just sad and strangely hilarious whenever they came up with their theories.
Bro the whole crew who railed against Maldini during the summer aren’t even here. Created a new name like Maldinisti and so on. At least I have some respect for Nelli and Dejan for keeping it consistent and for showing up here.
Yup. No where to be found now…crickets
The funny thing is there are Milan fans who believed bullcrap stories made up by the Italian media.
1. Maldini wants to sacked Pioli and replaced him with Pirlo.
This rumor doesn’t makes any sense AFTER Maldini asked Pioli to renewed the contract until 2026. Not to mention Pirlo has bad results when he managed Fatih Karagumruk, a Turkey club. Now Pirlo also doing bad with Sampdoria in Serie B which the club at 13th place. Why would Maldini replaced Pioli with a manager who can’t even do a good job at lower level? Heck. iirc Pioli beat Pirlo Juve 3-0 back in 2020/21.
2. Pioli wants to kicked Maldini out
This rumor doesn’t makes any sense too. Clearly Pioli put a lot of respect for Maldini because he was the person who believed at him, bring him to Milan, and stick with him when Gazidis wants to replaced him with Rangnick. After Maldini got fired, Pioli even had a lunch / diner together with him and Masara. There’s only trust and respect between Pioli and Maldini.
The funny thing is the reaction of all the Maldini fanboys on here. What did you expect him to say? He’s trying to put all the blame on ownership and the management that is still there while taking none of the blame for himself. Shocking..? Not really. He has to at least take some blame for letting Milan’s most valuable players leave for free time and time again.
And I think its very telling that no questions were asked about his relationship with Pioli. The interviewer doesn’t even bring up the rumor that Maldini was trying to get rid of Pioli? Seems strange not to even ask about his working relationship with Pioli. Makes me believe there is some truth there.
Give it a rest. You hate Maldini we know. Calm down and breathe.
Logic should tell you he is speaking facts. After he is backing it up, and he came out.
But bcos you already have a narrative to fufil in your head it’s now we Maldini fans.
Just stop while you are ahead. Cardinale and his management won’t appraise you for your efforts.
Grasping at straws that one
Says the guy that’s still trying to justify his stance that Krunic was irreplaceable at DM. Keep it going.
Don’t hate Maldini at all. The difference here is unlike the rest of you I can differentiate between Maldini the player who is an all-time great and Milan legend, and Maldini the general manager, who was a little bit over his head. That’s all.
Congrats sir the differentiator.
Maldini was over his head and did no good at Milan. And all the success goes to cardinale and his new boys.
Are you satisfied now.
Hey Poli, why are hate Maldini so much? Did he does some horrible things to your dog?
Are you even a Milan fans?
Ikr
That K keeps praising Cardinale and the management like a brainless sheep and then called us Maldini fanboys. There’s definitely something wrong with that kid brain.
He is a top Cardinale fan, and he reps his position. Bcos I don’t know what else to say. Maldini said nothing when he was fired, narrative was he was guilty bcos he wanted power. Now he comes out no brakes, all speed and they say the interview is one sided and what-not.
What would he gain from lying, after all they have mouths to defend themselves let them come out and say something against this pipe bomb.
At this point Maldini’s detractors are just grasping at straws. There is no more fuel so why not begin their merry go round of spewing the same drivel.
Another fake argument by someone who can’t defend his position with facts. Show me once where I praised Cardinale, or Elliot. Or even mentioned them…I’ll wait. When you have to make stuff up, you’ve already lost the argument.
It’s not hard to see that there were a lot of sketches with the way things were handled during M/M Era. But I guess we FANBOYS are the only with eyes.
There’s no Maldini fanboys in here and only Milan fans, except you, who gave respect to Maldini because not just he’s a fkin legend but also one of the most important person who helped the club to rise up from the banter era. There’s no reason for Maldini to lies or even put bad words for Pioli when Cardinale and Furlani was the reason they fired him, NOT Pioli.
But of course you’re gonna stick with “Maldini wants to replaced Pioli with Pirlo” narrative because you don’t have a single brain cell and also a Maldini hater. GTFOH.
@ForzaMilan look AHAHAHAHAHA 😂😂😂 what did I tell you? Somehow Krunic would be brought up. (“Bro I dont even pay attention to that dude. He’ll probably throw in something about Krunic in there knowing him”).
In a Maldini article somehow he has to bring up Krinic. What a lame. Dude can’t live without him.
Yeah. That kid have some big hate boners against Krunic too. Frickin nuts.
Correct me if i’m wrong. Last summer, your username was Poli right?
Yea. It’s most definitely that Poli dude.
Man was obsessed with Maldini to a T.
Yep pretty much it’s him the Poli boy.
He’s the only one in here who so obsessed on hating Maldini.
@K aka @Poli, the chief Cardinale fart- sniffer!
Still bringing up the lame argument about letting players leave free. Please read…
“In 4 years of restructuring with young players: market spending net of transfers 120 million, 30 per year and 15 per window, value of the squad rose to around 500, salaries dropped to 120 and then to 100 for 3 years, without being able to renew with Çalhanoglu and Kessié.”
That was the CEO’s call. First Gazidis and then Furolani your hero…
“…..please respect Milan’s history” Grande Paolo, please understand your audience.
Hoping for a Frosinone win!
Didn’t you write the same comment the other day as Blagoye ? Quit your freaking buffoonery because there is no guarantees Pioli would even be sacked by losing against Frosinone which i assume is what you want to see so if that doesn’t happen should AC Milan just keep loosing untill it happens to satisfy you whims and wishes ?
No true AC Milan fans should wish for us to lose regardless if they hate Pioli.