AC Milan technical director Paolo Maldini has claimed that the club ‘will do nothing’ in the January transfer window as they believe the squad is already competitive.
With the reopening of the mercato just a few weeks away, speculation is rife – as is discussion among fans – about the ways in which the Milan squad can be strengthened ahead of the second half of the season with the team just three points off top spot.
Maldini spoke in an exclusive interview with Sky Italia at the presentation of the Golden Foot award and was asked about a number of topics.
“It is always an emotion and a pleasure to win an award. Over time I have been invited over several years then the time to come physically is less and less but it is an opportunity to give credit to this award which is very important,” he said (via MilanNews).
Of course he cannot be 100% happy currently given that Milan lost 3-1 against Sassuolo yesterday afternoon, with the Neroverdi condemning the Rossoneri to their second straight defeat in the league, with seven goals let in across the two games.
“Sassuolo played better even though at the beginning of the match we had a lot of room to hurt them. No excuse for the defeat, now we have the opportunity to resume our journey on Wednesday. We know very well that we will have to work hard. We feel at the beginning, we have done great things but to win a trophy you have to do something exceptional.”
It was confirmed yesterday evening that Kjaer finished 18th in the voting for the 2021 Ballon d’Or award hosted by France Football. It is a statement of just how good a year the Denmark captain had, with a nod also to his heroics at the European Championships over the summer when his friend and team-mate collapsed following a cardiac arrest.
“Our fans are used to different transfer campaigns than in the past. The necessity meant that we had to invent something special, but we tried to have an idea of the team. Kjaer he’s a team man, he’s a leader and he’s proved it,” Maldini added.
On the January transfer market and on renewals, he stated: “Honestly our team is competitive and right now we have no intention of doing anything and I don’t think we will do anything sincerely. We are always there for renewals, there are negotiations and as long as there is time there is hope.”
In the next match Milan will face Genoa and will encounter one of their favourite sons in Andriy Shevchenko.
“Sheva is courageous, he questions himself, he loves this job and he has made a difficult commitment. He is not afraid, he is a champion and he will prove it. It seems to me that Sunday’s game was already positive for him. I cheer for him, but unfortunately in the case of high-level sport one must also pass over friendships and kinships,” he said.
“I think that perhaps the highest point was reached in the Manchester final when he then scored that goal at the last penalty, which is only an appendix. The whole journey, however, was fantastic, of a boy who arrived with a different mentality and who adapted to us, who had a crazy talent and who was used to training in a different way. total and then become what it has become.”
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Please tell me Maldini is just being coy and doesn’t really believe we are set as a team and we don’t need to buy anyone lol. This could not be further from the truth. We lose Kessie and Bennacer for a month in January and our strikers are 35 and 40 and have already missed significant time with injuries. We will drop like a stone in the standings if we don not sign at least one midfielder and one forward in January. We are not good enough to think we have a complete team yet – that is delusional. We are barely holding on and the lads are exhausted. I understand the January window is typically not a time where clubs spend huge amounts of $$ – but we must be extremely careful as we could easily drop out of the top 4 with a bad month in January and are always only an Ibra injury away from having a massive collapse. Go for Kamara (who won’t be expensive with his expiring contract) and sign Faivre at the very least (also another reasonable signing) – otherwise I fear we may be in for a disappointing second half of the season