Paolo Maldini has opened up about his decision to resign as the technical director of the Italian national team, leaving the job after just two weeks.
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On July 11, the FIGC confirmed the appointments of Maldini and Leonardo to lead the revolution for Italian football. It was an announcement that received the praise of most Italian football fans, seeing as Maldini knows what it takes to win at the highest level.
However, just two weeks later, Maldini and Leonardo both resigned from their jobs after the FIGC president Giovanni Malagò vetoed Andrea Pirlo as the new coach. Suddenly, as opposed to what was promised, Maldini didn’t have the freedom to choose the coach.
Speaking to Corriere della Sera this morning, Maldini explained why he chose to resign from the job. It wasn’t just Pirlo that they were after, but also Daniele De Rossi and Fabio Grosso, two names that the aforementioned Malagò also shot down (indirectly).
Paolo Maldini, these are days of great sadness not only for AC Milan but for the entire sporting world, following Baresi’s passing. How do you feel?
“Besides profound sadness, I’ve revisited the last forty years of his life. I spent twenty-five of them with him. It wasn’t just a friendship. When you play alongside someone, you spend days and nights with them, you have fun together, you suffer together, you win together, and you bond.
“For me, Franco Baresi was an example of leadership that perfectly suited my character, which then, more than now, was introverted and closed. He showed me what I wanted to be: few words, many actions.”
You’ve remained silent until now. Can you tell us how your brief stint as technical director of the national team really went?
“Malagò called me at Easter, saying: ‘There’s a chance I’ll become president of the FIGC; you’re the person I’d like to have with me.’ I offered my services. For me, there are only two things in football: AC Milan and the national team.
“Then, I didn’t hear from him for a while. The day before the elections, Malagò called again: ‘The vote is tomorrow, there’s a good chance, I’d like you on board.’ I replied: ‘Let’s talk about it.'”
And you talked…
“He asked me to become president of Club Italia. It wasn’t just about reviving the national team. We had to rebuild Italian football.”
Was Leonardo needed too?
“I share friendship, values, and principles with him. Leo has great organisational skills, as well as a great understanding with me. So we started. And we thought about a new role: technical director.
“Technical director has never been part of the national team’s organisational structure: the coach reported directly to the president. But that wasn’t right: the coach needs to engage with others.”
And then what happened?
“Then the agreements were revised; consequently, the only thing left to do was to resign. Or rather, to forgo signing the four-year contract that was supposed to start on August 1st.”
But, excuse me, how did you accept without having agreed with Malagò on the name of the coach?
“In fact, the first thing I asked was: who chooses the coach? Malagò replied: ‘You choose the coach, and I endorse it’. That was the agreement. Then events caused this to change.”
Why Pirlo?
“Our idea was tied to technique. To attacking play. To a change. In Italy, we’ve fallen behind on many things. We wanted the boys’ training to be based not on tactical exasperation but on technique, one-on-one play, and an attacking mentality. And we wanted a young coach with experience in the national team. We had three names.”
Who, besides Pirlo?
“Daniele De Rossi and Fabio Grosso. Three world champions. But the president told us that based on the agreements that led to his election, with the support of all the clubs except Lazio, we couldn’t touch the coaches of Serie A teams. So De Rossi and Grosso were excluded.”
What did Malagò tell you?
“He called me and Leonardo to say: ‘I don’t think Pirlo can be hired anymore. From today, I’ll decide who the coach is. From today, the rules will change: I decide who the coach is and you approve it.’
“This was unacceptable. We took 24 hours and submitted our resignations, on a contract that had yet to start. There was no longer any trust to carry out a job that is enormous, even if the project was enticing too.”