Reports have emerged over the past few days suggesting that AC Milan technical director Paolo Maldini might be relieved of his duties in the event that the club do not secure a spot in the next edition of the Champions League.
As our colleagues at SempreMilan.it write, Corriere della Sera and La Repubblica wrote that the owners RedBird Capital are seriously thinking of sacking Maldini from his role, thus entrusting the future of the technical area to a person more in line with their vision.
Without going into the merits and demerits – at least not in this piece – of RedBird’s choice to continue investing in young prospects rather than raise Milan’s technical level immediately and not tomorrow (perhaps), there are still not many better in Europe than Maldini in doing this.
In the 2021-22 season – with the fourth-highest wage bill in the whole of Serie A (€100m – the Milan created by Maldini won the Scudetto by overcoming the competition from Napoli (€110m wages), Inter (€130m) and above all Juventus (€172m).
Excluding Fikayo Tomori’s permanent purchase which was an initial loan deal that began in January 2021, the amount spent by Milan for the 2021-22 season was €61.2m, less than Atalanta (€65.2m), Juventus (€129.5m), Roma (€127.65m) and even Fiorentina (€62.2m).
This summer, Red Bird invested €48.67m in Milan with €32m spent on Charles De Ketelaere alone, which there’s no doubting appears to be Maldini’s big mistake at present.
However, the amount spent by the Rossoneri is significantly lower than Napoli (€76.05m), Juventus (€106.5m), Atalanta (€99.9m), Sassuolo (€54.2m) and Udinese (€52.2m) thus putting Milan in sixth place among the clubs that spent the most last summer.
Guess which team has the lowest salary among the four sides that reached the semi-finals of the Champions League? Of course it is Milan with €86m, just over half that of Inter (€132m) and not even comparable to that of Manchester City (€214.3m) and Real Madrid (€242.12m).
Were things different in the quarter-finals? Only Napoli (€79m) and Benfica (€52m) had a lower wage bill than the Rossoneri.
Maldini has made errors, ones which were also dictated by his inexperience in the role, but his signings built a team that led Milan well beyond their expectations, as well as clearly above the economic resources that the owners themselves put into the club.
Paraphrasing a well-known Chinese proverb: when you point your finger to judge someone, look at your hand. The other three other fingers are pointing at you. It could well be that the proverb applies perfectly to the ownership.
