AC Milan technical director Paolo Maldini has made his intentions clear regarding two key figures in the rebirth of the club: Stefano Pioli and Rafael Leao.
Before the game against Chelsea last night Maldini gave his usual pre-match interviews, and he was asked about issues away from the field such as the renewals of Pioli and Leao, whose current contracts expire in 2023 and 2024 respectively.
As evidenced by Maldini’s words also reported this morning by La Gazzetta dello Sport (via MilanNews), the plan is to continue with the head coach ling into the future: “Pioli is an absolute protagonist of these years, the idea is to continue together for a long time. We will meet soon to plan a future that is absolutely not in question.”
Milan’s will is to continue together with Leao too, but in this case the negotiation appears a bit more complicated given that a big salary increase will be needed as well as the resolution of the €19m fine owed to Sporting CP.
“We would like to do it [the renewal] before the World Cup, indeed we wanted to do it a year ago and then six months ago. But there must be the conditions to proceed. The idea is to do it before the World Cup break, we’ll see what happens,” Maldini said.
The Rossoneri want to lock him down as soon as possible and therefore soon there will be new contacts with his entourage to try to finally find an agreement.
You know there’s a problem when Maldini explicitly stated ‘We wanted to do it a year ago and then six months ago’. Can’t help but to feel ‘nostalgic’ that we’ll have to face the same contractual issue all over again.
Just renew him and give what he wants. If Leao & Bennasser as well leave the club after Calha, Donna, and Kessie it means that all Milan will not pass to the next level. It means that Milan is just a club who prepare super stars for others. Curva Sud must press