A number of sources are now confirming that Paolo Maldini and Ricky Massara will leave AC Milan imminently in what has been a turbulent last few hours.
According to MilanNews, today’s meeting with Gerry Cardinale lasted a few minutes and Maldini was informed of the ownership’s desire not to continue with him as the technical director.
It was a brief, calm meeting in which Cardinale reaffirmed his esteem for Maldini but where there was not even time to start a discussion about any other issues past or present. Daniele Longo also confirms this report.
Such a discussion would not have changed the mind of Cardinale nor the situation, showing what a difficult relationship it was between the technical director and the American owners.
The views between the parties were and are too far apart, with Maldini asking for more investments while the owners – which in any case allowed spending within the limits of Milan’s economic possibilities – have never softened their stance.
Ricky Massara will also leave with Maldini, who chose him in the summer of 2019 as his right-hand man after Leonardo’s farewell, forming the triad with Zvonimir Boban. Stefano Pioli, on the other hand, has never been in question.
Bad decision, Gerry. For better or worse, Maldini incarnates the Milan soul.
It’s not just about the dismissal, but the way that he dismissed Maldini is unbearable. You don’t treat someone who has spent his entire life for Milan like that. You don’t treat the face, the heart, the body, the brain of Milan like that. You don’t go behind someone’s back. That’s not the way we do things in Milan. You just can’t.
And it seems like the owner loves Pioli so much. I can understand why as Pioli is kind of a yes man, and never demands something beyond his coaching role. He knows his place. But hey, let’s see what he can do without figures like Maldini and Zlatan. It’ll be an entirely different Pioli to say the least.
You didn’t just cut a sporting director, you also cut off the whole project, the spirit, the trust, and the honor.
We Milan fans will always respect and love Maldini.
Don’t wanna be that guy, but I TOLD YOU SO.
Been saying for a year that Maldini will be fired at the end of this season.
The old owner never wanted him in decision making role and the new owner was only forced to keep him because of the scudetto the coach and players won last season in spite of Maldini’s poor work in negotiating contracts, buying or selling players.
People were too busy getting emotional and attacking other people just because they were able to see the situation clearly.
Forza Milan
What does any of this have to do with football?
Football is entertainment, and in its core its a business.
You can’t have a sporting director that can’t negotiate and can’t sell players. You can hire anyone that can just come and spend money, but can he do the rest of his responsibilities as well.
Another proof that the Leao renewal was done by Furlani
What proof? Are you a Milan insider that you know, something we don’t? You have been, saying same thing.. Without being, able to justify your claims! Oh so? It was Furlani, who negotiated Leao’s renewal? While Maldini was enjoying, his vacation in Swiss Alps?
Sempre milan reported that Furlani got involved in the negotiations and got the deal done. But you have Selective memory
@Poli SempreMilan also reported Maldini’s and Massara’s involvement in Leao’s renewal.. Can you even, say what was Furlani’s role in Leao’s renewal? I bet you can’t.. I know BTW, what was Furlani’s role, in his renewal.. See who has selective memory..
You are not current with Milan affairs.
Please know that, as always both former and current Milan CEOs policies, restricted spending, negotiations especially with some players gone. Of course Maldini wanted to renew but limited to a certain amount pegged by Management. He only worked with those pegged parameters. However, all the challenges seen now and always isn’t Maldini but CEOs. Policies like, Younger players with potential, reduce wages, compete to the highest position etc.
How would you have achieved anything with younger players. Maldini had to fight it out with Gazidis to bring a leader in person of Zlatan and paid off
No football is a sport. It’s about 11 v 11 trying to get a ball in the net.
This isn’t “entertainment”. This is nonsense.
If you like gossip so much why don’t you just follow celebrity gossip magazines.
@Maldini’s heir , you need to grow up and face reality.
Why were the best players in the 80’s and 90’s coming to Milan? Because Berlusconi was one of the richest man in the world. Business.
Why was Galliani and Berlusconi signing washed up Ronaldinho and ronaldo In 2007/08? For entertainment purposes. They were done and semi retired. They spent more time in the night clubs around Milano than on the field
Your full of such BS @Pioli. You must work for Cardinale. You are a donkey and spout nonsense over and over. Well this is what u wanted. Now let’s see what Cardinale and the new sporting directors do with one hand tied behind their backs. Wage Caps are here to stay and meager budgets. To think some donkeys like @Pioli didn’t want the Arab investment LOLOLOLO. Now look. Who do u think we will get to replace M&M with all these $$$ restrictions??? Good luck.
😭@Juro
I am a donkey that spout nonsense but what I was saying that will happen, happened.
Now was me saying nonsense or a character calling people donkeys can’t handle the truth.
Keep 😭 Juro
It was furlani that signed Leo, maignan, kalulu , giroud, brought back zlatan and so on. U don’t understand football. Gerry has no passion for the sporting activities. The earlier u accept this the better
The post is reply to Poli not you Otte.
Since when is Maldini is the sporting director??
Maldini was the TECHNICAL area director
Massara was the SPORTING director.
Read here
(https://www.acmilan.com/en/club/management)
Dont be that ignorant f00l
Hey dipstick….this just made your day I’m huh? But don’t worry….if this goes pear shaped I’ll make sure you hear this every time you post here.
How does Maldini not have the skill to negotiate when he slashed our once highest payroll in Italy? He brought on Theo, Mike, Sandro, Kalulu, Rafa and all the rest with low wages. He convinced them to play hard and look at the future.
He bought Kalulu, Thiaw, Mike for Pennies.
He negotiated Tonali’s set in stone agreement down after the loan.
You constantly yap about letting Dolla and Kessie go for free. But you seem to forget that Dolla was winding down his contract when M&M joined and they had no leverage.
Kessie and Hakan and Dolla wanted the money and couldn’t care if the club lost out on transfer funds. They led the club on but knew damn well they would never sign a contract.
This happens all around tho. Skiniar just did the same to inter but what’s worse for inter is that they could of sold him last year for 65m.
Pogba did the same thing to ManU twice lol.
You got your wish but I’m afraid RedBird laid an egg with this irrational, knee jerk decision.
They will regret this. Moncada is just a scout..that’s all. He’s no DS. He’s uncovered some gems but Football is no money ball and the club that developed money ball never a damn thing. It was just a stupid ploy and no baseball uses anymore.
Frualli is just a suit. The hell does he know about Football. Imagine that bum walking in the locker room to give pep talk to the boys after a tough match!!! Lol.
Tare? Don’t make me laugh. M&M achieved more in 3 years than that Dufus achieved in 16 years.
which player Maldini sold that gained Milan a decent revenue? Please answer that
And now the rumor is that Igli Tare, the same person that Elliott wanted to hire in 2020 after Boban left, is the front runner to take over.
Another TOLD YOU SO.
Now we know why there are so many SMS to Milan rumors
You have a big ego Poli. Maldini is a Legend ,whether he has been fired or not he will always be a legend. Theo, Sandro, bennacer, Tomori , Thiaw wouldn’t be at the club without him. On and off the pitch he commands respect worldwide.. maybe they will offer you his place Poli since you have achieved so much in football.
The problem is that people like them don’t know what Maldini represents among the fans, and especially the ultras. There will be huge backlash if he is fired, which as it looks like he will get fired.
Most of the Milan players playing for Milan in the 80s and 90s wouldn’t be playing in Serie A nowadays.
We had the three foreigner rule and there were about 1/10th the number of transfers and half the squad sizes.
The reality is this squad actually won the title the season before last and would’ve finished higher in the league this season if Pioli hadn’t rested 7-8 players against top tier sides.
Your magical transfer market isn’t going to fix that.
As a Milan fan I’m just disappointed all round but it’s the cancer of modern football.
here we go again,the “genius” poli comes out and starts to lick cardinale’s ass
You need to get over the CDK and Origi signing. Origi failure is a mystery, but I don’t agree to declare CDK as a bad signing yet. He signed all the core players during the last three years. He tried hold on to Kessie and Donnaruma. Donnaruma renewal would have been detrimental while Kessie was to let go due to the salary cap set by the owner. Leao renewal also required additional approval by Fuloni because it passes the 6m net salary cap. I am pretty sure Maldini did his best to reach to this number. Another banther area is loading for Milan.
Lol. What a dumb comment.
Maldini is a legend. Period. And considering his experience in being a director, he brought in Maignan, Theo, Leao, Tonali, Tomori, Kalulu, Giroud and Bennacer.
All of those players are world class. Lol. Keep pounding your chest being right about a director/player who bleeds red and black. You’re a disgrace.
Emotions running high already.
From Fabrizio Romano yesterday:
Dybala: “Future? I’m under contract here at Roma for two more years”. 🇦🇷
Release clauses:
◉ €20m for Italian clubs. 🇮🇹
Roma have option to ‘cancel’ it by activating salary rise from €3.8m to €6m.
◉ €12m for clubs from abroad. 🌍
Maldini chose to sign CDK for 35 mil while the CEO wanted Dybala.
That’s a competent director, got a world class player in his prime on a 3.8 mil salary, while Maldini and Massara paid origi 4mil and spent 35 on CDK
You guys will be livid when you see how much more money Milan will spend this summer after a competent director comes in and adds money to the transfer budget by selling the trash that Maldini accumulated over the years.
Watch what happens
Dybala earns 8m in Juve and demands more to stay. Milan can’t afford to pay such
You are leaving that “young player focus” strategy behind. Cdk was regarded as top talented young players outthere and yes that didnt happen, while dybala injury prone and not so young. Neither did hazzard to real, so whats your point.
You honestly are joke Poli hahaha. Thi is not FIFA. This is real lofe football and its obvious you haven’t been a Milan fan for long. What a dumb statement you make there. M&M armed the tram we have today with very very very limited resources. We have a great starting 11 that are in Milan today thanks to M&M. Or you think Theo or Leao would be here in Milan? You know nothing Bout the sport bro
“You guys will be livid when you see how much more money Milan will spend this summer after a competent director comes in and adds money to the transfer budget by selling the trash that Maldini accumulated over the years.
Watch what happens”
You mean thrash like Leao, Theo, Maignan, Bennacer, Tomori etc? So that we play, in Conference League; oh not even Conference League, err Serie B sounds good, as long as Maldini isn’t in Milan..
A handful of good signings doesn’t negate the 20+ bad signings he made.
Doesn’t negate the players he passed on to sign bums like CDK, Origi, or useless players like Bakayoko, Florenzi, dest, Ballo Toure who just sit and collect checks.
Plus Leao, Bennacer and Theo were signed under boban. You can give Maldini credit only for Maignan because Tomori is the first that needs to be sold.
Come with something new when you wanna defend Maldini not the very few good signings and forget the tens of bad signings over the years
Poli whta a re you talking man? hahahahaha OMG. Theo said that he was honour because Maldini reach him and asked him to come to Milan? what Boban? When Boban touch the defense of Milan bro?
Your useless playeres: Bajayoko played excellent in his first spell in milan. Florenzi,l who btw is a leader in the pitch, was a backup for Calabri. Ballo Toure didnt evolve cause lack of game time, Dest was the 7th choice of the market after everybody else was turned down by management.
LOL. Dybala played like 15 games this season.
12 goals , 7 assist in serie A
5 goals, 1 assist in europa league
1 goal in italian cup.
he would be literally our most productive player, but according to someone who can’t handle the truth Dybala only played 15 games this season.
How many games Origi and CDK played this season and what was there production
Can you prove the CEO wanted Dybala? No you can’t because it’s a lie. Just stop with the disinformation.
Signing youngsters was the order given by the owners, and that includes CEO. Maldini could’ve fought for Dybala but chose De Ketelaere who was a profile appreciated by the owners. Period.
Is attacking others, because of their opinion? Not the same thing, you also do? And brand it, rational thinking?
@Maldin ifan, you’ve been talking nonsense about me in the comments for weeks but you just got humbled.
And you still don’t understand that it was rational thinking by me, because it all came true .
Do you understand that as a “fan” of an actual football team you’re supposed to like the players who play and have played for the club?
You don’t like Maldini, one of the greatest players to have played for the club, and you don’t like the players he signed and who currently play for the club, so what is the point of you?
What is Milan for you?
A five letter word?
It’s just some empty shell. “Entertainment that’s completely disconnected with its subject matter. Like going to a movie because you’re more interested in the offscreen gossip about its actors.
All you talk about is just nonsense.
As a fan I am emotionally invested in supporting the club, I’m financially invested by going to the stadium and spend money on tickets or jerseys.
A fan takes time of his day to watch 2 hours of Milan twice a week.
Just because I support the club doesn’t mean that I have to agree with every decision by the club, coach or director. I don’t have to like every player on the team, I don’t have to like the incompetence of Maldini as a sporting director.
If you support everything and don’t have an opinion of your own you just a meat head follower, a cult member.
I want more for Milan and Maldini doesn’t have the qualifications to do that.
You’re not emotionally invested in the club.
You’re emotionally invested in the transfer market. Like most modern football fans.
@Poli Who got humbled? When I countered, you with actual facts, you went underground.. Stop playing victim card! I have also, seen you attacking others, because of their opinion.. Now see: who got humbled? Next time, come with something new!
The fact is that Maldini is fired. He didn’t quit but he was fired.
How is that for a fact.
And I will be coming with something new, so will Milan, with a new sporting director because the incompetent director just got fired.
@Poli Source of your comment? Trust me bro? Has there been, any statement from the club? Or are you a Milan insider? What you have, said isn’t a fact.. Just a fantasy! I have a real fact for you: Don’t get high, unless there is confirmation from the club! Even if he steps down, you will say; he was fired.. Don’t jump to conclusion, so quickly!
@Poli You just said Maldini made 20+ bad signings, why don’t you name all of them? Why do you think Leao, Tonali, Tomori and Theo are still playing for Milan even though they can play for any other big club in the EPL? It was all because of Maldini. Appreciate what our greatest player did even though it was not his forte.
@Poli now see yourself; who is attacking others in the comment section! Just because somebody, disagrees with you means it’s nonsense.. And BTW! Can you counter, my comments, with actual facts instead of calling me a Maldini fan.. Cause I have countered, you many times with obvious facts, which you ignore! And don’t even reply, haha!
There are several tier one sources saying that, my guy, not me.
Time for you to accept the reality.
Time to let moncada cook.
Also, From Nicolo Schira:
Moncada much appreciated by
# Cardinale for his ability to discover talent at modest prices (his intuition
Maignan, Kalulu, Leao and Cuenca)
Among other things, the scout chief had reported in unsuspecting times
and when Botman, Enzo Fernandez and Kolo Muani didn’t cost so much.
The list of talents reported by
Geoffrey Moncada but ignored is long. Enzo and Muani, however sensational: they cost 10 million for both and today the first has been sold for 121 and for the second they
are asking for 90
@Poli
Dum people like you think every signing should work. But reality is many singing fail. even Manchester city, PSG , liverpool they spend so much but some of there signing fail but they are overshadowed by there good signings. CDK was good signing. It is not Maldini’s fault it did not work.
Man said CDK was a good signing, but he calls me “dum”.
It’s not Maldini’s fault it did not work? How was a good signing if it didn’t work.
Please explain me that in simple terms since I’m “dum”.
What contracts are you referring to, buddy? The club didn’t have the money for the traitorous claims of Cahanoglu and Kessie. They lied about signing, then wanted more money… Better that they left. The only mistake at the moment would be CDK. But there’s no telling how the boy will develop. Maybe he’ll have a good season now. By the way, in any big club there is a great respect for legends, especially without one who brought a scudetto without money. You have no business with Milan, my friend!
Also i might add, with eufa restrictions there was no room to buy proper replacements kessie, turkish kebab and dollarruma on a short notice. And without them, lets say we would have sold them for a profit, then we would have been maybe in seria b. Hated the fact they left for free, but who knows what went on behind the scenes. Maldini has made some mistakes as a “young man” as a sporting director but corporations and communications would have made a difference. He IS A BONA-FIDE LEGEND. And thats not the way you treat one. When he put this milan on map again. It’s like 1 step forward 2 steps back with this cardinale guy.
Same thing goes in my mind… This Cardinale guy need to be dethroned…
We need Curva Sud to realize this …
Buddy. Cardinali knows only about$. Maldini knows more about football. Now we you have technical guy trying to explain to $ money guy how to elevate your game is like an engineer briefing a cook. Won’t/never work
Now. Let’s see who Cardinali next guy, that will tell you who is right. Make sense?
@Poli. Shut the F**k up! You biased and selective memory nonsense spewing “fan” more like an Anti-fan b”tching every article that’s about Maldini. You can’t wait to spew BS about Maldini. You clearly don’t like any AC Milan legend or want them to succeed. You didn’t even say anything about Ibra in any of his articles that how I know why. You sad sad troll.
Your logic is so internally inconsistent. The owners kept him because he won something. Smh. Duh! He’s a title-winning director
I’m happy where we’re at. We literally only need an RW, proper CAM which is coming, a CDM and a striker. Then subs. That’s the work of Maldini, a solid base for the future with the sh*tty a$$ budget the owners have him. Players renewing literally BECAUSE of his name when they can go elsewhere and make more. But hey you want to go back to the Bertolacci and Montolivo era. Smh
I mean the guy just won the award for best director in Serie A last season.
SMH this Cardinale guy is clearly on a power trip.
@IKWYDLS 😭😭😭
Why are you guys arguing with this Poli guy? LOL
Stop wasting your time.
This is the ‘fan’ who doesn’t like stats because stats are irrefutable and gets him caught in his lies that he uses to spread his hatred for Maldini.
He is just here because whichever club he supports, has no ‘fans’ to toss stinking $hit around at each other. One thing has been certain.. he is no Milan fan. Why are you guys entertaining a troll? Lol
He even picked up the ‘forza milan’ part from me as well cause I caught him in his lies over 10 times by now. LMFAO
Of course Poli will gloat.. Milan is thrown 10 years back now. Guess who are the ones who are happy now. It’s his time now.
And you’ve been wrong for a year. Other clubs have lost players on free transfers, implying Maldini was responsible for something beyond his control is petty. You also complained about how he was slow to finalise deals e.g. when he only renewed his contract in July, you also ignored his role in bringing in the players that helped win the scudetto and for a year you were crying that Leao would leave for nothing, when many of us told you he wouldn’t, so what exactly are you bragging about? You have been proven wrong over and over again.
I agree with this guy, why dont we just wait and watch this summer mercato instead of debating with a random maldini haters.
If the mercato goes wrong then curva sud must action.
Another BS came out from Poli boy mouth
Bizarre.
What are they doing?
All of them?
What is so complicated?
The owners have the money, the directors spend that money and the manager makes the most of the players signed with that money.
But money is not the be all and end all.
What matters is what happens on the pitch. Because the sport of football is actually about 11 v 11 on an actual football pitch. All the other nonsense. The gossip. The “market”. The media circus. The fans buoyed by the media and computer games demanding the impossible or the ridiculous or just constant change for the sake of constant unrelenting change.
All the good work that’s be done on the pitch is being undone by stuff that has nothing to do with it.
It’s infuriating.
No my friend, Maldini is not an ordinary guy… He is a born champion, he’s lifted 5 of Milan’s Champions League..
He wants Milan to improve and be the giants we once were.
For all that you need funds and investment. Not going by income/outcome.
Maldini would never have played for Milan if Maldini was a director of Milan at the time because he never would’ve got past the 3-4 players ahead of him in the ridiculously massive squad!
But the whole thing is just ridiculous. Modern football management eating itself.
No one wins. The project being completely undermined after 3 successful years.
Disappointed with all especially Maldini who should value the importance of stability.
Have you seen Maldini play????
If you’ve have, you wouldn’t ever say he couldn’t make it to the 1st team with 2 or 3 players in front of him
Yes I saw them all play. For decades.
Nowadays we’re lucky if we get to see a player play for more than 5 mins.
You think you need to educate Maldini on that fact? lol he has said countless times the football has changed from 30 years ago. Also Milan’s reality is different to back then.
What’s changed?
The ability for 11 elite athletes to build a familiarity that is essential in those decisive moments?
All that’s changed is money, money, money. And unfortunately Maldini got caught up in that.
Overall I’d say he and everyone involved in this team have done an incredible job in getting us back into the champions league, winning the Scudetto, and getting us to the semi-finals of the Champions League.
I’m disappointed that that is all being undone now. I’m disappointed in everyone here. There are no winners.
In terms of Maldini’s tine at Milan
I never liked the fact that redbird(cardinale) took over. Some of his comments left a sour taste in my mouth but the way he has always butted in on any transfer is just ridiculous. Is he going to hire a yes man in that role that just listens to what he’s been told? Maldini genuinely loves milan and always wanted them to return to their glory and now getting rid of both him and massara where does that leave us? Everything we worked for is just thrown into the garbage because Maldini wanted what’s best for milan? How will the players react to this? If I was leao I’d be questioning that extension to see if milan really indeed want to return to the top level.
Cardinale is just a business man and doesn’t care about milan or any of its fans. He makes me sick, I hope the ultra protest this and him
Well said… Cardinale try to build Milan similar to Arsenal… Milan = corporate…
Just as I predicted last summer.
Unfortunately Redbird is a disaster for Milan.
When you win a Scudetto, you invest to get stronger, Redbird did exactly the opposite.
Not only they did not invest, the broke the formula that brought Milan up from its ashes.
#redbirdout
Fire Maldini and you will loose fans. Can’t afford to loose 2 legends in one week
Sounds like another summer of bs to me..
I wonder what plans does Gary have and why Maldini cant make them happen
If Maldini leaves but Pioli stays it’s the worst possible outcome in my opinion.
Redbird vafanculo!
Simple and straight to the point. The best words!
There are no winners in this, I believe symbolic departure like this can really affect players, that would love nothing but to emulate Maldini.
Not to mention that most of our good players said that they came to the club after talking to Maldini.
He was important for many reasons.
Can’t say I’m surprised though.
That’s what happens when you say getting Dybala was ‘the easy way’.
That’s what happens when you lose players like Kessie and Kebab for free.
That’s what happens when you spend the bugdet on CDK, Florenzi, Messias and Adli (and the wage budget on Origi and Dest) and then blame the owners for not having a strong team.
Still, it’s a sad day…
I see what you did there bro, you blame him for the players that turned out bad but never acknowledged him for the ones that turned out good 👍 thumbs up.
I literally did exactly that in my first sentence.
Cdk, dest, origi definitely flop. Thats on maldini. Florenzi came one because we needed more italians in our squad for fair play regulations. Messias was paid in pennies. Yes maldini did mess up on those 3 but that happens in this game man. Every team has bought a player for loads of money and shined else where but total flop when arrived. Liverpool, Chelsea, real, barca psg juve inter etc etc. That happens. Work on maldini’s short comings with the staff not just fire him. His role at the club is bigger than just the mercato. He represents milan in many aspects. Now im all in on #redbirdout bandwagon.
Every team goes thru this. We’ve had less
Failures then most.
CDK will take time. I blame Pioli more than management. He’s the coach and it’s his job to develop players.
Inters losing Skiniar for free! They could of sold him for 65m last year.
Happened all the time but look at the winners: Maignan, Thiaw, Kalulu, Theo, Leao, Kjear, Benna, Ibra, Giroud and on and on.
This decision will have a snowball effect on the players, especially the fact that he was sacked. I am looking forward to Leao, Tonali, Maignan, Theo putting in a transfer request as they are all in Milan about the project spearheaded by Maldini. There’s a saying in my country(U go lan), meaning you will see the results and face the action of your consequences.
Is there any European football that success when an US take over??
Arsenal’s owner is Kroenke.
None. Name 1
Liverpool
Where is the success? Last I checked they missed out on CL.
Come on now let’s not do this because you guys hate Americans. It is what it is. Liverpool has been fairly successful since they got taken over by American owners in 2007 (but moreso Fenway Sport from 2010 since they also went through a banter era just like us during the same time). Sure this has not been a good season for them but have you guys not been looking at UCL.?
From American owners they won the UCL, club world Cup, Super Cup, Prem x2, fa Cup, eng super Cup 🤷♂️
So it’s gone be last season in CL for Milan….. Cardinale will end the club he’s good in ping-pong not soccer….
Cardinale should read up on history as he would realize that it was actually in milano at the Piazzale Loreto where mussolini ended up danglling with his head downwards,
I’ll be looking forward to see curva sud in action as i doubt that they will stay quiet for much longer if this is in fact correct that maldini has been sacked.
Greatly dispointed and even though i have some understanding that we need to comply with financial restrictions and adhere to ffp its really bad news that he is completely arrogant in regard of the biggest milan legend ever as we should be able to expect more cash for transfers due to the cl semis and for that matter also has increased several of our sponsorship with quite large sums of money.
Maldini has always had a troubled relationship with the curva though.
that was with a now disbanded group of the curva, if i remember correctly but not the entire curva sud even if there still remains some its hardly all of them who shares such views.
@ Milan fan that was my impression too especially after the retirement debacle..they whole showing of the banner that said Baresi was their captain and such. He never had a great relationship with them so it was surprising to see him endearing himself to them in recent times. But as Martin highlighted it could be because of the new crop
As a long tlong time milan fan, i just hate it the way this cardinale character so far. Previous americans were much better than this fool. Wins the scudetto and little spending, reaches cl semis and little spending. Nothing but fuzz so far regarding stadium. Treats our legends like trash. Maldini brought here world class players for peanuts. Won the scuddeto with minimum wage salaries compared to others and he still gets sacked. F u cardinale.
#CardinaleOUT
U WILL RUINED MILAN AGAIN !!
#CardinaleOut This American f*ckface thinks it’s a game to own Milan
He will bring igli tare from lazio that piece of sh…t cardinale.
I Hope all fans boykot home games next season if this is true.
Igli Tare is a solid choice, along with promotion of Moncada. That would be a good set up.
TARE? Not Giuntoli who has built much better teams on essentially the same budget, minus the one exception of Osimhen? TARE, the master Europa League squad guru? COME ON.
Tare last 3 seasons: Europa, Europa, UCL ie 6th, 5th, 2nd.
Maldini last 3 seasons: UCL, UCL, UCL ie 4th, 1st, 4th.
Also:
I’m sorry who’s better now? Don’t even make me get into how “well” they do in Europe
Tare? Expect to see trash like Murigi signed for ****loads of money.
There was some really strong indications of him making these horrible transfers to make something on the side. That’s just the cherry on top.
I love Maldini and what he did for Milan but he really isn’t a good director. You can get emotional all you want but reality is, Maldini always asked for more money while letting Donnarumma and Kessie leave for free. He could have sold them for at least $100 million and then use the money for transfers. Donnarumma cost Milan nothing and Maldini let him leave for nothing, that is terrible work. He also failed to sign Dybala for FREE and instead signed Origi for more per season and then wasted tons of money on CDK.
With that said – Maldini is and always will be a legend but as a player, not as a director.
I don’t care, the pivotal signings him and massara made were crucial to the point we are at today and I would trade that for nothing. On the other hand this guy and his stingy a** thinks that a club with heritage like Milan is just a mere investment and game u just play around with
LOL! That “guy” owns Milan and he says what goes. Yes, Maldini made some great signings but he also cost the club probably $130-150 million (for letting Donna and Kassie leave for free), then spending $35 mil on CDK and giving Origi $4 million per season. These are the consequences unfortunately. In the end, I want what’s best for Milan and it is yet to be seen what will happen now. These guys are businessmen and know how to make money – futbol is about money now and if Milan wants to get back to the top, they need to invest smartly. Letting star players leave for free, especially those that came through Milan youth program, is plain and simple terrible business.
and you think this clueless American is going to lead Milan to success? My standard for humanity is dropping
Either way if maldini and massara STAYS OR GOES I can’t stand Cardinale and Redbird who are part of the problem when they don’t want to invest sh*t and now when we have new directors you will understand how the real problem is higher up.
Can you show us one club director who didn’t loose single player on free?
Liverpool, Real Madrid,M City, M United every team looses the players on free.
It was the requirements of those seasons that didn’t let Maldini sell those players.
We don’t have a alternative to sell donna on that season.
Do you think you can negotiate Mino raiola? You should be kid to think like that, Zlatan changed not because he want to but it’s always Mino who want big commission always every year.
Why he is unable to sell or renew, you should question the owners. No player is interested to be sold to other clubs unless they are renewed.
But Maldini make sure everyone he brought are renewed and each player are worth of 60 to 100million except Leao more than 100million
It took 2.5years for Leao to get settled, never showing attitude on the pitch but today he is even defending when playing against big teams
We should give time to CDK, he will show his class.
Inter lost Skirinar, missed out on the 60m from PSG I guess 🤷♂️. And man utd lost out on money from Pogba, Juve from Dybala, PSG from Di Maria, Rudiger from Chelsea, Napoli from insigne, inter again from Perisic, Bayern from Sule, Ajax Oanana.. …..and I can go on and on
“futbol is about money now”
“if Milan wants to get back to the top, they need to invest smartly.”
Yes Dollar n Kessie are worth abt 130-150M combined, but who or which club were willing to pay amount for a player with expiring contract???
Secondly, Dollar n Kessie wanted to stay at Milan. So it would be logical to work on renewal than selling them. But their agents took advantage of the situation because of their importance to the team and demanding ludicrous commission (raiola wanted 20Mil per season)
Which is why M&M had to let Dollar n Kessie go – to maintain balance of our financial status..Don’t forget that our finances were in the red (-300M euros IIRC) when Elliot took over. Uefa had already punished us via FFP (remember that we were banned from european football in 2019?) so Milan were given 3 years to balance their finances.
M&M with Gazidis managed to reduce it to about -100M. Renewing Dollar costs about 60-80m, same goes with kessie. Mind you that Raiola only wants to renew 2 years so there will be another drama come next renewal negotiation.
If we just blindly obliged and accept then that will makes our finances worse. Heck maybe we won’t have any transfer budget for the past 2 seasons should we retain them.
In Dollar’s case, sure maybe we could retain him and sell next season. But then again, who wants to buy a 22yo keeper with a wage of 10mil/season???
Even De Gea earns abt 8mil only.
So again, do you think retaining Dollar & Kessie was a great investment?
Completely agree with you. Maldini has been hit & miss as a director. Lost out on A LOT of money in free agent departures and hid mercato has been more miss than hit… We need experienced leadership. He will always be a club legend and I hope Milan Fans are objective about this.
You’re right on Dybala, wrong in Kessie and Dollaruma. The very reason we call him Dollaruma now. He ran down his contract and now we have a better goalie for cheaper. Kessie also the same, ran down his contract to get 14m per season from Barca plus agent commission. No way we’re going to pay 14m per year for those players which were their demands and their agents never wanted to move them on because they knew they can get more money elsewhere as a free agent. Also we phased out Raiola and greedy players from the squad. Btw we also.got.a Scudetto thanks to Kessie, so won’t say that it wasn’t worth it
How do you know Dollarumma and Kessié were let go because of him? I’m pretty sure it wasn’t his choice. If he had the money and the required salary cap he would’ve kept them for sure.
Those snakes left because they (along with their agents) wanted more money.
This was inevitable – sooner or later this was bound to happen. Surprised Gerry pulled the cord so early… Not sure where the Milan Fans will stand on this. This might result in Pioli leaving too. Turbulent times…
What is done is done, who ever comes in needs to be very smart, the players on loan have to be assessed properly ,and certain players over 30 need to leave no exceptions…
So who should the directors recruit if they have to send players over 30.
Gundogan age 34, he is playing better than haaland last few weeks.
Zlatan at 38,he returned to Milan, see his stats even though he didn’t play full 90mins every match.
I can 100 players who are 30+ but still they had best seasons in their life.
It depends on the player not the age.
Shut-up the useless talks
I think there are good players in early 30s but most are past their prime and investing in them isn’t a way to go. Yes, Gundogan plays good and played better than Haaland last week but let’s be serious – Haaland has at least 10 good years ahead of him while Gundogan has 2-3 maybe. Ibra isn’t a good example either, he is older and keeps getting inured which is a sign of age – he hardly played while getting paid.
“I think there are good players in early 30s but most are past their prime and investing in them isn’t a way to go. ”
You don’t INVEST in players over 30. You get them to lift the level of the team. Especially if they come as a free transfer. Just look what Zlatan did. Brought us the scudetto and transformed the team completely. He wasn’t brought in as an investment.
Same applies to Kjaer. Milan didn’t get him to increase his value and sell. He was brought to stabilize the defense and teach the younger lads how to defend. Mission accomplished. You cannot have a successful team with youngsters only. They need people over 30 to teach them things.
Fcuk off Poli, you maybe a inter fan or hater of Milan.
You are just spamming the chat no useful info.
Guys please be on peace, let the owners and Maldini answer what really has happened.
If cardinale thinks he can run the club without showing respect to the club legends and the work.
There will not be 70000fans everyweek.
Only thing he can do is sell the players and dump the club to before Zlatan level.
I was writing a lot of bad comments to red bird and americaz ownership.
We will know everything in next season.
If they continue to struggle, they will lose fans. And they must sell Ac Milan.
Forza Milan!
Lol. Like ur comments even matter
juve, inter, Milan & napoli, let’s count how much they spend in their last 3 season before their last scudetto & the season after..
yall will understand that cardinale just a clown without money,
And how much money do you have? Can you buy Milan? You probably can’t buy a Milan jersey while Cardinale own them. SMH!
We knew it when Cardinale decided to allocate 0 budget in this winter!
Mean time on another article “Most of the club’s senior members haven’t taken it well and that includes Theo Hernandez, Sandro Tonali and even goalkeeper Mike Maignan.”. Here we go. F u cardinale. #redbirdout . Hope curva sud make a stance on this bs that this cardinale brought to the team. Liked our previous American owners better. They were calm, knew their objectives and achieved them. Last year’s scudetto was because of their good work. We are much better now than previous years because of them. Now, this cardinale, soon to go bankrupt, wants to take us back.
Bad call. It would have been better to just remove Maldini from the director position and give him a lesser role in the club. This way you can hire a proven director who knows how to do business and you would also keep the moral high by keeping Maldini. Good thing for Maldini as well since he would have had someone to learn from. I think that this would have been the best solution.
You must either be joking or living under a rock if you think Maldini would ever accept that.
Lesser role? Give him larger role that do not require him negotiating directly. He should be Director of Football.
This. He should have been reassigned to another role. This will not end well.
I can not believe what I read, either in the article or in the comment section.
Maldini has done great job! In 3-4 years, he has made a totally new team (Calabrija being the only exception), far more competitive than the one he inherited. He made it so with no big money transfers and with half of the wage bill. So someone here questioning him because of Origi, CDK … are you serious? You will see Maldini and Messara doing great things very soon, but unfortunately not for Milan.
Can’t wait for the Curva Sud reaction!!!
We have great base (Leao, Tonali, Tomori, MM16), look at how all will fall apart with the more competent directors. What a shit show.
I don’t think I can go further with Milan. It’s been 16 years of being a fan but the treatment that Maldini got from these greedy Americans is just too much to handle.
At this point the only thing I can do is not going to another Milan match (as I planned at least 3 for this season) , don’t watch their games.. simply nothing.
Players like Theo, Tonali etc came mostly because of Maldini.
All he asked for was a bigger budget than those 50 mil (Milan made around 140 just from UCL) .
And for those idiots that are against Milan..You are nothing. Not worth even my reaction to your stupid comments as he is a legend and did great at Milan..both as player and as a part of the Milan board.
You are no true Milan fans..
#cardinale_out
Tonali didnt come because of maldini he came because he has been a liflong ac milan fan since childhood but regardless of that maldini has a lure and surely can help bring in players by his presence because who wouldnt be flattered by him and like to get help from such a football capacity.
Besides of that i can agree with some of your sentiments like some fans isnt really helping but ive been an ac milan fan for so long ithat it runs deep in my blood that i cant abandone that idea evemn if i wanted to but i do i hope to some extent that season tickets will be affected then yes to some degree because thie absoltely disgusting behaviour by cardinale.
You are 100% right.
worst news in the morning
Firing Maldini is something no true Milan fan can accept, no matter the consequences.
The Milan owner is sick in the brain. If Maldini has not done well, a better option would have been to offer him another role. Firing Maldini is like scrapping a well known brand name.
Exactly
This season is the best season for Milan ever IBRA KADABRA made me cry cuz he retired and CARRRRRRRRRRRRRRDINALE FIRED🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥 Maldini who said God didn’t exist my prayers were answered 😊😊😊😊😆😆😆😆
Unfortunately I cannot say I’m supported after that last report the Gerry was upset what Maldini said after the CL semi finals. LOL. What a fkn Joke. The man cannot handle the truth. He fires our club LEGEND – the ONLY REASON half the current squad chose to sign with Milan in the first place. Theo, Mike, Giroud, Ibra, Tonali, Thiaw, Tomori , etc…all have said “when Maldini calls you listen”. Good luck recruiting now with a WAGE CAP AND SMALL BUDGET. As I said all along – Redbird is Elliot and BOTH are not interested in winning titles only making PROFIT. This proves it once again. I am ashamed of my club today. From such a wonderful send off to zones to this farce. Good luck finding a director who will work under the restrictions that Redbird have placed on us. Watch the mass exodus of players in the next year or two: Theo, Leao, Mike, etc…all will leave. It took many years to build us back up into a respectable club and now we are moving back towards the bottom. But you know according to that OFIOT @Pioli we have Frurlani that will save the day!!! Hahahahaha. Pathetic kid. Just shows Redbird have no ambition and no intent to make us a great club again. You don’t fire M&M after qualifying for CL and making a run tot he semis AND resigning all our talent to long terms deals. This is about poor Gerry’s ego – that is all – and Redbirds ultimate desire – PROFIT. We are now Atalanta but in red and back. Disgusting
I tend to agree with every cyllable of yours here if this is correct and in regard of cardinales ego its spot on if he has sacked maldini on the grounds of him being the ultimate power then he has no idea who he is dealing with,
Quite ashamed if its correct and considering ,maldinis first farewell this makes it evern worse that he has been screwed over twice and this time by the ownership.
Im beyond angry and feel sorry for the players as well who hasbeen bamboozeled by the management,
Well, well, well… Loads of doom & gloom excruciating whinning, this is simply atrocious… But anyway, I’ll stand for what I always will: wait and see what happens.
Sticking to the facts: Leão has renewed his contract with us, and this is excellent news. Maignan is also in the process of doing so, and this is some wonderful news too.
In short: that’s the REAL post-seasonal market facts for now. The rest is speculation… Or DOOM & GLOOM blabblering s*h*I*t.
Who will renew Maignan if M&M leave? What will happen to Kamada?
if that is your logic then it’s your choice, but it’s not a rocket science to know what will happen next after Maldini & Massara get fired.
players who want to come here which connected with Maldini will definitely think again, also existing players or they who have just renewed their contracts will have second thoughts too about the project.
i love Milan, we all love Milan, but loving the team doesn’t mean you have to like the owner.
and i never like elliot /redbird since their first day here.
if the fans not coming to the San Siro after this, is also a form of love for the club, showing the owners that the club is not their commodity.
fans can come to Milan away games, that way they can support their club without giving revenue to the club.
it’s tough love.
your username shows the history of this club, even long before Maldini, but your response to this is just doom & gloom?
this new club owner has no respect for the history of this club!
Yeah guys it is confirmed that both Maldini and Massara have been sacked and will be replaced by whatever that man is called.
I don’t even worry about summer signings at this point. I worry that Leao, Theo, and everyone who signed their contract because their faith in Maldini and their belief that this an ambitious club that has a future may ask to be transferred. It’s a clear signal from the owner that “Profit is the only thing I care about and to hell with competition results and everything else”.
this is a good news actually, if that cheap-ass american hedge funds (elliot /redbird) can’t and won’t invest money in Milan, it’s better to know this early, so fans also really know what the new club owner wants, which is only money!
the titles and glory the club gets on the field is just a side bonus for them.
also if according to the them football is just a business & only entertainment, then be prepared to lose money.
because football is NOT and never just for business, at least not for me and I’m sure not for most of the people who come to the San Siro, let alone those who are willing to come to other stadiums to support the team.
and if this happen, why bother built a new stadium? no one would go there anyway.
they’re wrong to choose football if they only think about profit, they should choose another sport to invest.
€50M budget to build the competitive is small change compared to the club’s achievements in the last two seasons, the Serie-A Scudetto and then the Champions League semi-finalists.
especially if the funds are to build a competitive team for two competitions.
no team in the world has managed to achieve that with only young players, there must be a combination of established and/or champion players to guide these young players.
and that budget is just peanuts to bring in establised /champion players.
now we know why elliot choose redbird instead of investcorp, because they still want to milk the club, something they can no longer do if investcorp buys it.
tare might be good as a sporting director, but only for a club whose main objective is to stay in mid-table and occasionally in a few full moons reach european competition, and of course satisfy the owner.
that’s proven by the 15 years of his career
Forza Milan!
So according to italian news paper, this whole thing blew over because maldini demanded more than 50 mil in order to compete, and cardinale refused. Also they report that our best players are furious now. Theo is considering his other options now, theo one of our most loyal players. Leao they say, which he already tweeted about it, would have never signed the renewal if he knew this would happen. Magic mike also considering his options. This crooked ruined all the good work and achievements that we have done past 3 years. Im so bummed out. Hope redbird sells our beloved club asap. That’s not how you treat a legend. Look at shinter with Zanetti. What a disgrace. #redbirdout.
What’s your source? DailyMail? Bro c’mon, relax.
“Leao, who sat between Maldini and Massara just days ago to sign his contract extension, seemed to confirm as much with a tweet that consistent entirely of a thinking emoji.
Others said to be stunned include Sandro Tonali and Theo Hernandez, who recognise the role that Maldini has in representing the history of the club.”
Article on Football-Italia. Watch this project implode this summer. Theo will be up for renewal in 2024 (expires 2026), so bye-bye, and after the shit-show that next season will be Leao will hand in a transfer request. 2024 will be Year Zero.
Whatever you say, he is the owner and he has the right to do what he want, nothings gonna change with all babbling you are talking about
No he can’t. There will be consequences. You watch.
The customers (supporters) are the King here. How can they build brand without supporters?
Maldini was not perfect, at least as a sporting director.
But fans and commentators have to fully appreciate the parameters in which he was required to operate to properly understand his performance. It is the same leeway I afford to Pioli who, also not perfect, clearly hasn’t had the attacking depth required to rotate the squad and get results consistent with standing on the league table against bottom table opponents.
Hindsight is also a wonderful thing, as wonderful as it is rarely acknowledged.
As I understand, the failure to re-sign Hakan came down to wages which was a decision made above Maldini. You don’t pre-emptively sell a player when a wage gap, 6 to 12 months earlier is a matter of a few hundred thousand euros. That’s chump change.
Fans talk about selling Kessie as though there would only have been benefits, but never consider the consequences of the counterfactual. What happens if we sell Kessie? It’s almost certainly that we don’t win a Scudetto, isn’t it? How do we replace everything Kessie was to Milan and what would that have cost? Was there any realistic target available that could replace Kessie? In addition, is it not the case that the breakdown occurred because Kessie wanted money that Maldini did not have the authority to spend?
Maybe Donnarumma was just a bad mistake. Okay, so that’s one player. There are quality players all over the world who’s contracts expire. This is not a reality unique to Milan. Perhaps more contracts have lapsed on Milan than elsewhere (proportionate to club status, ect) but that can pretty clearly be explained by finances.
Then we come to the last Mercato, half of which had lapsed by the time Maldini and Massara signed contracts. Until this time, it looks like there was no transfer budget. This appears to be related to the ownership change. The only business we did during this period was to sign a free agent, Origi, while all of our targeted players were signed by other clubs (other than CDK who was considered hot property and who had committed). We did not even buy out the players we loaned. Connect the dots…
CDK has not worked out. That can be offset by the practical theft of Thiaw, can’t it? When you’re project is to grow youth there are always going to be teething problems. While I do not believe we can afford to persist with CDK, he could still come good. He wasn’t signed for this season.
There are a number of reasons why Dybala did not make as much sense as he seemed to ‘on paper’. For a start it is not obvious to me we could ever has signed him. I understand he was prepared to take a pay cut (in the form of bonuses and incentives) to be the Roma project under Mourinho. Even if I am wrong about that, he clearly does not fit into Pioli’s system because he has no defensive work rate. What is really being advocated for when it comes to Dybala is to change the whole system, to get the most out of Dybala, who is near 30 and had injury and fitness issues for the previous season. That both Dybala and Leao who suck on the transition. Maybe we use Dybala off the bench? I am sure he would have jumped at the opportunity to play second fiddle to Brahim.
There is always another side. We’ve gone from 10 years as a punch line to a joke to 4 straight seasons of UCL, a Scudetto and a UCL semi final. This was done with very limited financial resources.
When you balance all of the factors, the project has been an overwhelming success. Maldini had earned the right to have one more go just as Pioli has if for no other reason, because (as Ollie has pointed out on the podcast) we were the only top club for which stability looked like it would be a factor.
That’s gone now because Gerry can’t handle not being the biggest dick in the room. I am not sure how anyone can come to any other conclusion at this point in time.
“Maybe Donnarumma was just a bad mistake.”
LOL. Have you seen him play for PSG or Italy? If one created a highlights reel of all his fumblings since leaving Milan you”d get a 1 hour long video. Mistake? Mistake was thinking he was irreplaceable. We now have 100x better GK with waaaay less money. Win-win.
We need a rich middle east owner ASAP and take Gerry out!
According to Di Marzio, Cardinale had wanted to change the model of running the club. The decision to part with M&M had been taken for some time but was only revealed to them today.
He may get rid the position of sporting/technical director altogether, so there may be no replacement.
Maldini was not perfect, at least as a sporting director.
But fans and commentators have to fully appreciate the parameters in which he was required to operate to properly understand his performance. It is the same leeway I afford to Pioli who, also not perfect, clearly hasn’t had the attacking depth required to rotate the squad and get results consistent with standing on the league table against bottom table opponents.
Hindsight is also a wonderful thing, as wonderful as it is rarely acknowledged.
As I understand, the failure to re-sign Hakan came down to wages which was a decision made above Maldini. You don’t pre-emptively sell a player when a wage gap, 6 to 12 months earlier is a matter of a few hundred thousand euros. It’s chump change and people experienced in negotiation understand where things are likely to end up. The error is in assuming a minute gap could not be closed.
Fans talk about selling Kessie as though there would only have been benefits, but never consider the consequences of the counterfactual. What happens if we sell Kessie? It’s almost certainly that we don’t win a Scudetto, isn’t it? How do we replace everything Kessie was to Milan and what would that have cost? Was there any realistic target available that could replace Kessie? In addition, is it not the case that the breakdown occurred because Kessie wanted money that Maldini did not have the authority to spend?
Maybe Donnarumma was just a bad mistake. Okay, so that’s one player. There are quality players all over the world who’s contracts expire. This is not a reality unique to Milan. Perhaps more contracts have lapsed on Milan than elsewhere (proportionate to club status, ect) but that can pretty clearly be explained by the club’s finances.
Then we come to the last Mercato, half of which had lapsed by the time Maldini and Massara signed contracts. Until this time, it looks to me like there was no transfer budget. This appears to be related to the ownership change. The only business we did during this period was to sign a free agent, Origi, while all of our targeted players were signed by other clubs (other than CDK who was considered hot property and who had committed). We did not even buy out the players we loaned. Connect the dots…
CDK has not worked out. That can be offset by the practical theft of Thiaw, can’t it? When you’re project is to grow youth there are always going to be teething problems. While I do not believe we can afford to persist with CDK, he could still come good. He wasn’t signed for this season.
There are a number of reasons why Dybala did not make as much sense as he seemed to ‘on paper’. For a start it is not obvious to me we could ever have signed him. I understand he was prepared to take a pay cut (in the form of bonuses and incentives) to be the Roma project under Mourinho. Even if I am wrong about that, he clearly does not fit into Pioli’s system because he has no defensive work rate. What is really being advocated for when it comes to Dybala is to change the whole system, to get the most out of Dybala, who is near 30 and had injury and fitness issues for the previous season. That’s both Dybala and Leao who suck on the transition. Maybe we use Dybala off the bench? I am sure he would have jumped at the opportunity to play second fiddle to Brahim.
There is always another side. We’ve gone from 10 years as a punch line to a joke to 4 straight seasons of UCL, a Scudetto and a UCL semi final. This was done with very limited financial resources. We spend like bottom half EPL club.
When you balance all of the factors, the project has been an overwhelming success. Maldini had earned the right to have one more go just as Pioli has if for no other reason, because (as Ollie has pointed out on the podcast) we were the only top club for which stability looked like it would be a factor.
That’s gone now because Gerry can’t handle not being having the biggest member in the room (it appears my original version of this may have encroached on a swear filter). I am not sure how anyone can come to any other conclusion at this point in time. It’s an easy job from here unless the players who were Maldini acolytes all decide they want out.
Well said @Bruno well said
100% correct #redbirdout
@Bruno. Couldn’t have said it better. I preach this almost everyday to the clueless. The money “lost” from Kessie means no title. The parameters which Maldini has to work with were incredible yet got us a title and a UCL semis. I did say when we were trying to get to the final to try to enjoy the fact that we can this far and got to the UCL semi because it is incredibly difficult to get there. Maldini was not perfect in his choices but he did a fantastic job imo.
Management is failing to realize that us as fans and the curva aren’t in uproar with the limited spending the last few years specifically because Maldini was there to calm everything down
100%!
Losing $umma is not mistake, it’s blessing in disguise.
It’s not about his quality as a player or person, it is about whether he was realistically going to stay, given his demands, and whether he should have been sold so we could at least profit from his departure.
It seems pretty clear that the writing was on the wall and that he should have been sold.
I suppose even then, maybe that means we do not sign Maignan because the timing is off.
This is a huge mistake by Cardinale/RedBird. Maldini is a genius and a legend and an inspiration.
All this BS in these messages about bad signings is ridiculous. ALL sporting managers at all clubs have more failed signings than successful ones. It’s IMPOSSIBLE to predict. Last summer these boards were RAVING about CDK because he put up sick numbers and had great highlights and he’s young, tall, skilled etc. dybala is constantly hurt. CDK might still work out to be a superstar for us and dybala is only going to keep getting hurt. You can’t ignore that Maldini did persuade to keep players here like Theo or that he loved Botman and Saliba but Milan didn’t have the money to compete with Newcastle and Arsenal. That’s not Maldini’s fault. Look at all the horrible signings and overspending on trash by Juventus, Chelsea, PSG.
Who do you idiots think exists out there with a f’kin crystal ball to predict all future success of players???
This is horrible and it’s a case of a rich and powerful guy not wanting to have someone step on his toes. God forbud a f’kin fich Cardinale has to live in the shadow of a true legend and real Milan man.
This is a sad, sad day in Milan history. HORRIBLE for our club. Tragic.
People need to realise something. Was Maldini perfect? No. But this was also his first few years ever in charge. He made some bad signings but he also made some excellent ones. Ones that can be the base of our team for years to come.
People also don’t realise that Maldini was more than just signings. He made this team a family, he brought those traits. Big name players signed for this team because Maldini came calling.
Maldini was at EVERY SINGLE GAME AND PRACTICE. name me somebody else who does that? he interacted with each and every player on a human level.
People talking if we support this team, guess what? Maldini is Milano. We just fired a man who has brought us joy in the last 3 years when we were miserable for the last 10. We just showed the world that we just kicked out the father of this family so does this mean we’re a broken family?
You don’t know how damaging this is to our team. An American business owner came in and destroyed everything we built in less than a year!! Let that sink in. Players of our team are already making comments. Look at leao who just signed an extension and just posted his disbelief. That’s the effect Maldini had. Who is going to trust this project now?
Furlani is going to take over? He has 0 experience in this business. He is an accountant. He’s a yes man to cardinale. This was the most damaging thing we could have done. Here Maldini thinks he’s going to get the funds and get to work and instead he’s been blind sighted and fired.
I stand with the #redbirdout. They don’t love milan, they are a business that doesn’t care about the success of this club. From day one I never liked cardinale and this confirms it. He’s a piece of crap and the ultras better turn on him. I don’t think we’ll be seeing 75k fans at every game anymore. Screw you cardinale for running my team that I’ve cherished for 20+ years.
fully agree with what you are saying here but i would like to add that furlani is known to have been a fan of milan since childhood and practically has usurped the most important milanista of all time so the managment now is of great question beyond what you aready said and id say of shakespearian proportions.
completely in shambles, im shocked to say the least and ill suppoirt any cardinale out post at the moment when this is confirmed as it baffeling.
“We just fired a man who has brought us joy in the last 3 years when we were miserable for the last 10”
Precisely this. Man that banter era gives me PTSD. When we got the title omg it was such joy, so beautiful. One of the most wonderful moments as a Milan fan..all thanks to Maldini, Massara, Pioli and the boys
It’s an interesting point about Furlani.
This at Milan has all of the hallmarks of what happened recently at an AFL (Australian football) club which is probably the equivalent of Inter (i.e. Carlton).
A club legend was appointed to an equivalent to a sporting director role after an extended miserable run (a role which he had previously performed at another club). He did a solid job drafting 18 year olds and trading in 21 year olds. There is a long lag period when the kids are draft that young. Anyone with brains could see he did a good job, particularly given that he was faced with some really average drafts.
A control freak/idiot CEO was then appointed who wanted to assume control of the club. He did that and made said legend’s position untenable resulting in his departure. It had nothing to do with performance (which has since been vindicated). The CEO tried to make it about favouritism of legend’s sons (who were both clearly good enough to be on AFL lists).
Legend gets removed. 3 year of turmoil follow. CEO then gets sacked as does the incompetent coach the CEO appointed. It’s another 3 years of rubbish before they appoint another coach and a CEO who is credited with building two powerhouse teams from nothing. There is still massive instability as the usual factional influence is now trying to turf the latest coach (a decision which would be premature).
Said legend is now in a role with another team which is doing well.
Precedents are rarely perfect but this feels terrifyingly close to where Carlton ended up when it moved its legend on. The destabilisation has lasted for at least 4 more years. After a what looked like a new dawn last year they are struggling again.
This is not blind faith in legends generally. There are complicated clubs who needs the stability of the legend and, where he can do the job (which Maldini clearly can), you can only upset that balance with extreme caution.
Fick Cardinale
MasterStroke by Elliot.
They knew exactly this would happen. Cardinale will never see eye to eye with Maldini who wants to restore club to glory while that re_t@rd wants to moneyball. LOL. Eventually.. he will end up firing the legend who brought Milan back from death.
Lets think about the consequences..
All the best players are just gonna leave this summer. Curva sud is gonna make sure Cardinale never sets foot in milan ever again after the distaster that will be this season under Pioli( IF he stays..), fans will make sure to f*K cardinale up everywhere he would go in Italy.. debt that cardinale has will never be paid because fans won’t spend a dime for Cardinale.. Club returns to Elliot next year.. ALL Eliiot has to do is bringing Maldini and Massara back and turn into heros who saved Milan…. AGAIN!
Just a masterstroke. I am not spending a dime for Cardinale again. I have a feeling A LOT of fans will do the EXACT same. This is no Atalanta. Nor it is Toulouse. The City of Milan has a long history that Cardinale probably doesn’t know and it’s quite bloody.
I think Cardinale just made the biggest blunder! And all because he couldn’t deal with the truth? That re_t@rd thinks he can get the stadium built through ITALIAN Bureaucracy to pay his loan that easily? LOL
Milan will return to Elliot soon enough.
Well played, Elliot, well played.
Forza Milan.
Was thinking the same thing. Redbird doesnt have the money to spend a lot. Thats why he is nickle and diming in order to pay the debts. Elliot will soon get the club back for peanuts while pocketing a bunch of money.
Lol I never saw it that way but u might be right 🤔
Elliot is VERY good at playing these games. In fact.. i do want Milan to end back in Elliots hand now. At least they cared about the club.
There is no reason for a 50 mil budget when UCL got us over 135 mil. He doesn’t want to win, there is no passion here… he just wants to make money!
There is an incredible arrogance and stupidity in Cardinale’s approach, isn’t there?
Many have tried to move Italian bureaucracy. It appears to me that the only ones who have succeeded are the Agnellis who basically are the bureaucracy or, to put it diplomatically, otherwise know how to work inside the system and have the power to make things happen.
It is going to take 10 to 15 years to get that Stadium built and to then realise the sort of profit from the sale of Milan that he really wants. The most likely outcome at this stage is that the bureaucracy wins and we get some sort of upgrade/redevelopment of San Siro as part of a Euro 32 bid (or something like that).
He is going to need to invest in his asset to grow its value in that period. I’d argue he only needs to really do it now, in this one mercato.
For a spend of about 85m this season, which I suspect can be apportioned over 2 years because at least one deal could be on loan, you could bring in Scamacca, Zaniolo, Scalvini and RLC.
That gives you an Italian core of Tonali, Scamacca, Zaniolo and Scalvini to base the project on for at least 8 years. Italians wont leave as long everyone is happy. Kamada has agreed terms for 5 years. Add that to a core of Leao, Theo, Bennacer, Thiaw, Kalulu and Tomori and we have squad that really just needs tinkering with. I suspect the Primavera is going to produce some real quality, with the likes of Eletu, Traore, Bozzolan, Stalmach and Camarda, which could then be added. There will always be free transfers, too.
I could see it getting to the point that we just focus on CDK like signings to keep adding talent to integrate into the system and then maybe even start selling finished products.
But if you want to restrict the budget now it is just too hard to grow the depth of the squad.
This isn’t about Maldini. Fools like @Pioli can’t comprehend that. This is about Redbird and the direction of our club. Maldini said what we all say (and what the Tifosi said on Sunday with that huge banner for all, including Gerry to see) – to become elite we need to spend more $$$$. And what was Redbirds response? FIRE the man who said it publicly like all the fans want . So this isn’t about Maldini. Some will say he’s great others will say he’s terrible. That’s debatable. However what isn’t debatable and what everyone who understands football can see is that we need to INVEST MORE in the team. Maldini said it and he got fired. Ok. So what does that tell you about the Ambitions of Redbird/Elliot?? The answer is simple: they have NONE. So while some can rejoice that Maldini is gone – and others be upset. What we SHOULD ALL be upset about is that our Owners just told us fans to STFU and that they will NOT be spending any more money to make us compete with Europes best no matter how well we do in CL and this is the type of club we are now – a club that favors PROFIT over Titles. Get used to it. Very sad day and future. Welcome to Atalanta but with red and black colors – a feeder club.
😭😭😭😭😭
This is an act of disrespecting the whole universe of Milan by the American owner. It doesn’t matter if you are a critic of Maldini’s work or not, if you are a Milan fan, you should have no doubt that Maldini lives for Milan and only wants the best for this club. This is NOT the way to treat a football icon.
If I was Pioli, I would resign immediately. If I was in some players’ shoes like Leao and Theo, I would ask to be sold. They were all made to believe they were building a project with Maldini and Massara.
Last but not least, I hope the curva and the fans take action. These Americans love their match revenues too much.
Milan is a historic symbol. Just because somebody paid for it and bought it doesn’t mean they get to do whatever they like with it like a toy. There are rules and etiquettes to respect, people to keep happy if you want to prosper.
What a mess they made, and they did it by acting like snakes. SMH
Cardina… you have a loyal person that you don’t know how to use… so does whoever works for you.
Man, this is going to be a long hot summer. Lets see how the ultras react to this.
Also, there is a extremely high chance that we’ve just lost Kamada. I thought year zero might end up being 2024, but it could be now.
If this is actually true.. We didn’t just lose Kamada.. All the good players we have will be planning an escape route. Including Theo, Leao, Bennacer and Maignan. Without Maldini.. Milan has NO Project anymore. with 50 mil budget.. the team won’t improve much either specially when these players will now know the only goal here is to make money. Glory/winning is optional.
I watched the German cup final and I was not impressed by him at all. Maybe a rare bad match I don’t know but he sure didn’t look like he’s gonna improve our first 11 (although almost about anybody would be better than Diaz and CDK).
He is good, I have seen some of his complete matches, and he would have fitted our play style perfectly, but now it seems unlikely he will join us. Who would after seeing how the club treated their greatest player of all time.
Wait OMG I didn’t realize this might actually be true. I thought it was just rumours and tmrw I’d be hearing better news. But Di Marzio who is fairly reliable is reporting they sacked Maldini. Wow I actually can’t believe. I thought was just rumours making the rounds 🤦♂️
Now that in its sinking in, man this is not going to end well for Cardinale. And omg the players who are linked to Maldini specifically and renews. They’re going to want to leave.
That is not all. The news about Theo wanting to leave the club might also be true as he is the man who once rejected Man City, PSG and Real Madrid all because he wanted to improve under a legendary LB like Maldini. People should realize by now that most of our core player are here only because of Maldini.
Reality sets in.
🤷♂️😭.
I bet you are all glad you were calling me out, and laughing along with your girlfriends @Milan fan and @Juro.
Who is laughing now @IKWYDLS.
Some people can see the big picture other just see what’s in front of their nose.
Poli just stfu
Who gives a rats a$$ about what u have to say
You ain’t a true Milan fan, just a sad sad troll..foh
@IKWYDLS
You did, because you and your girlfriends kept talking about me. You and your girlfriends kept responding to every comment I posted.
You remember. But now you don’t care because you were proven to be wrong as per usual
@Poli Because your 90% comments are BS.. Time will tell, who is proven wrong!
Bro once again, stfu. Your comments don’t even make sense, biased and one-sided. Nobody said Maldini was perfect, you took it to the Extreme that why ppl don’t fck with u.
The reality is; we are heading into Summer without, any technical and sporting director.. That means; there is no one, to negotiate in transfer market! That’s what bigger, picture is… Only you are the one, who is happy about this! Hopefully, the bigger picture is clear to you now?
We didn’t have a technical director last summer either.
Check Maldini’s work from last summer.
He did only damage
@Poli you are contracting yourself..
“We didn’t have a technical director last summer either.
Check Maldini’s work from last summer.
He did only damage”
We didn’t even have technical director, last summer, yet Maldini was in charge of, last summer’s mercato.. What logic is that?
Nevertheless, that doesn’t refute, my original comment..
Contradicting*
@Maldini fan that went right over your head bro.
Maldini was so bad we would have been better without him in the position of technical director.
Bro I don’t think Maldini has taken this firing as hard as you have.
It will get better, you will see.
We are about to have competent people in charge, not wannabes
@Poli.. LMAO! I countered you with your own comment.. What you have, said doesn’t refute my comment! At first; we didn’t have, technical director last summer.. But now, in your second comment, Maldini was our technical director, last summer.. You are a, confused soul!
Nevertheless you are still, refusing to see the bigger picture.. And an obvious reason, to worry.. Okay, now that Maldini has stepped down, who do you think? Will replace him?
I read somewhere that Cardinale will be involved in handling the transfer market… 😵😱
Another step backwards. This team needs to settle in and build something special. Quit giving up on people.
Except CDK. Give up on him.
“Milan players are disappointed by the club’s decision to axe Paolo Maldini and Ricky Massara, reports
@86_longo
. The likes of Theo Hernandez, Mike Maignan, Rafael Leão and Sandro Tonali haven’t taken the decision well.”
This is what is coming…idiots like @Pioli don’t get what Maldini meant to a lot of these players – this says it all. Just wait for it. What was once a bright future is now uncertain. We won not because we’re had the most talent but because we were one of the most cohesive teams. Now because Maldini fought for our fans and players – begging Cardinale to get the lads more help – he was fired. And you think that would go over well with the rest of the players who believed in the project??? LOL. We are all in for a rude awakening. To callously discard such a legend of the club just shows how little Redbird know or care about our history. Maldini also brought back the older players (Nesta, Sheba, etc…) back into the fold (who were shun during the Galliani years) – what message does that send to all the greats if one of the greatest of all can be thrown aside so easily. All these years of work and promise now in limbo – all because Maldini asked for Redbird to spend to improve the club lol. Shameful
Keep crying while you talk about
me 😭😭😭😭😭.
Who is obsessed now?
You must be very proud of Cardinale, he approved mighty 35M for summer transfer. This is the reason Maldini disagreed with the plan, full stop. Don’t judge him from last season only, judge since the start of the uprising, Pathetic!
My comment above is for pathetic @Poli
The issue isn’t spending money, the issue is who the money will be spent on. He wanted Diaz and RLC! They are not Milan quality.
Well im not surprise anymore. After see how bad signing this season , wasted 56m euro like burn paper in floor. Somebody need to take responsibility for that, even if you are legend as player but now you are working as director . Your legend status dont make you invincible after working as director. Pioli must follow Maldini too , that will be perfect for revolution
Didn’t Redbird say they want to build Milan brand? This is going to hurt the brand instead.
This decision is like double-edged sword in competing for scudetto and ucl spot
I never trusted this crap of a man from day one. What a slap on our faces. Where is the ultra? 1 step fwd 100steps backwd. What a sad day!
“If Maldini leaves it’s because the club won’t put in a euro. Surely this Cardinal is crazy if he makes Maldini leave, but we see crazy people in football every day, in 30 years I have known the most false people possible. I’m not surprised by anything, this is football, words are worth nothing.“
Christian Vieri
What a disgrace this has been.
For those who keep bashing Maldini. It is obvious now that he wanted MORE reinforcements and Cardinale just didn’t wanna open his purse. It is obvious that Maldini only wants the BEST for our team, and no other personality could probably represent us better than him. Maldini is every Milan fans, who wants to see us progress further, instead of stalling/regressing like this season.
So, take that into consideration before bashing all the signing done under him last season – he could only work with what he’s been given with.
This kinda treatment to one of the best player to ever grace the field and not to mention one of our legends, if not the biggest, is utterly disrespectful to say the least! This shows how disconnected Cardinale is with the fans and everything is just a number on a spreadsheet to him.
This isn’t what our Milan is.
I am REALLY fearful on the effect this would cause to the squad’s cohesion. Some of these players SIGNED those long ass contracts mainly because of Maldini. Those who signed clearly didn’t mind lesser competitive salary, BUT trusted the management and their vision forward. Now they could easily SACKED one of the biggest team legend, whose name has been synchronized with our brand for GENERATIONS.
HOW WOULD THAT MAKE THEM FEEL?
Also to Poli, stfu. Not the time to troll.
Maldini had an awful transfer year and I would not forgive another repeat performance if he stays. However, he still is the one responsible for our entire core… Tonali, Isma, Theo, Maignan, Tomori, Thiaw, Giroud, Ibra….. he also was the one who really wanted Ibra here for the mentality and all of a sudden once he came back Milan was a top team again.
This is a bad decision and Gerry and Elliot (yes these choders still are on the board…) are and will be awful.
I have no issue with this. M&M insisting on blowing €20 million on Diaz, chasing a bench warmer, RLC, and willing to blow €15 million or so for him, and €4 million a year for that useless cripple Origi is beyond bad judgement. Maldini is good at identifying defenders, in the other positions he is clueless. Furlani and Moncada have better judgement. Tare can take the director role. This is a great move by Redbird.
You might agree/disagree with his work so far, but as a club legend, he deserves a much better treatment than this!
The truth is we also don’t know which players Maldini truly wants. All we know is media speculation. To see him hit the point of getting sacked, he must’ve wanted a NOTABLE improvement, not just penny pinching deals.
January was a canary on a coalmine. We needed reinforcements badly, but no, Cardinale refused to open his pretty purse and of course, what can the management do but to hold PR stunt that we’re fine. Our results spoke for itself, we crumbled and lost hell lotta ground and it’s only miracle we could’ve still finished fourth.
Irrespective of what happened or what could’ve happened. It’s just disgraceful to have a club legend like him getting sacked like this. Imagine what are those who signed long term contracts with us, shunning better financial deals elsewhere and placing their faith in Maldini? Surely they’re not signing because of Cardinale or Redbird.
It does seem that Maldini was pushing to sign Diaz. That shows bad judgement.
No. No. No. It’s such a sad day.
I am not going to join any choir to sing the pros and cons about Maldini. He’s my legend. Period.
TIME will prove either him or Cardinale right or wrong.
I now take my place at the fence and fold my arms. Watching with intent.
Do we want to be proud of Milan or do we want to win trophies? I want to win trophies.
I’m proud of the scudetto win and then making the CL semis through sheer grinding and hard work. But I want a team that is so good that I’m DISAPPOINTED when they don’t win the CL and don’t win the Scudetto. The current team makes me proud because they’re overachievers but it’s not fun anymore…. I want trophies. There needs to be changes to get there.
I hope the players realize this and aren’t upset for long. They will love playing and see more success if they stay and fight for trophies.
I want, I want, I want….
Lot of fans doesn’t realise here that though milan revenues are lesser compared with other European powerhouse but bringing stadium in revenue generation is pretty short sighted in the short term….Italian burecracy is way too hard to bend if Berlusconi tried hard and failed for milan stadium we all can see how hard it will be for cardinale to come up with one in say atleast next 5 years….milan can not survive without investment not loads of it but certain areas….the thing with cardinale is he wants immediate control of milan finances which to certain cant happen unless you build your own stadium till then all you rely on performance on pitch and revenue through sponsors which can only happen if you do investment on players..This team was weakened last year without investment cant survive either you fire Maldini or you retained it period. This is classic case of power struggle between cardinale and technical directors…we hate Maldini for cdk and others but he did produce isma, theo, Mike and thiaw plus more…..transfer market is a gamble with younger players some struck gold majority fail….firing Maldini will not be end of the world for ac milan but owners and management have to come clean now…you can’t rely on bickering in corridors of casa milan come clean show your plan…..just like ultras said on last match day better invest in Club….if team fails Maldini bares the burns if team success cardinale gets the applause that’s pretty amazing hmm….these american owners will never understand European football culture plz don’t compare it with any American sports…..
Cardinale is Italian-American! He has been successful in many stadium projects. If he delivers a new stadium for Milan, then our long-term future is secure. Directors, coaches and players come and go.
I imagine its very difficult to be m&m with very limited budget, a scudetto is a really great achievment. I personally think that we can not go further with pioli in hand. Look at how we play against relegation teams, just pathetic.
Probably milan still needs maldini in another sector. I mean if I am a milan player I will make him my role model for sure.
Milan per sempre
If scudetto you say that Maldini great achievement but if losing it is pioli fault . Is this a joke ? Pioli deserve to be sacked but maldini must stay forever ? Then give Maldini contract as long as he live and sacked pioli. Just because you hate pioli ?
Please dont get me wrong, I dont hate pioli, I just dont like the way salernitana and bunch of other relegation team dominates against Milan, that is just hurtful.
And for Maldini, I think Cardinale needs give him more respect. That if you appreciate the club’s history.
We lost because of rotation. What happened once we were out of the UCL? We won three in a row, including beating 2 teams that finished in the bottom 3 and beating the team that would have finished 3rd. Last season was the same, once we were out of the UCL, we dominated the league. Pioli has faults, the main one being playing his pets (like Diaz) and being slow to integrate new players and the Primavera. You do not beat Napoli 0-4 at their stadium and knock them out of Europe by accident. We have beaten all the top teams in the league in the past 2 years. That’s not an accident.
Even Mr. S. Pioli should leave , because sooner or later HE will be kicked out. Cardinale has no shame for our beloved club
BTW for those who are celebrating Maldini’s sacking. Seriously, what kind of Milan fans are you? Maldini is probably the very embodiment of Milan in human form, with his brilliance and of course weaknesses.
Now that the squad has been informed, there would be a revolt, even Leao is reported that he wasn’t gonna sign the contract had he known that Maldini was walking away.
You guys failed to see that the loss of Maldini is kinda Milan losing its very own soul. Sure he’s not a perfect sporting director, but who is? You ungrateful lot forgot how his presence alone is a magnet for players looking up to him to join us/sign extension.
Had CDK performed right away, we won’t even be having this conversation, but nobody could know how a certain player might do in a new environment. Now, even Juve or Inter fans are laughing and calling for the beginning of our banter era v.2.0
and sadly, it might even be true.
This is not the way to handle a club legend. After all, Maldini was pushing this hard because of his love to Milan, to please you all – the fans, so that we could have better improvements. We’re almost there, our backbone is almost secured, now even Theo and Maignan or even Leao might be tempted to jump ship, and personally I wouldn’t blame them either.
We still don’t know exactly what went down. Maybe Cardinale wanted to keep him but he asked for more money or autonomy and gave an ultimatum. Maybe he was the one who decided to leave due to a lack of ambition by the owners. This would still be bad, but not the same as sacking him.
The only one, who is celebrating, his sacking here is @Poli..
100% 👏
Juventus and Inter are banter club, themselves.. So it doesn’t matter, what do they think!
I actually now think leao will be sold this summer, if not next 100%.
I think Cardinale has planned for this. We know he isn’t interested in football, only money. Part of me thinks he wants to sell Theo, Maignan and Leao and has manufactured a situation whereby now he can claim it was them who wanted to leave. Look at the facts, who stays? Pioli..mr Average, mr punching above his weight who will take what he’s given to stay in a job like Milan. The only reason our season is respectable is because Juve got a points deduction. It was a woeful title defence, and the CL run fell into place for us. A Semi Final place flattered us. Maldini alluded to this.
We are now a selling club and Cardinale has set the wheels in motion. He had to get rid of Maldini, he was the unbreakable bond to the fans. There’s 300m sat on the table with Rafa, Theo and Mike. All the young players who are our future signed because of Maldini…not to mention the draw he has in signing players.
If we thought last summer was bad, I suspect this will be worse. We are so close to getting back among the elite and Cardinale has destroyed it and could put us back another 10 years.
Why we need now is those fantastic Milan fans and ultras on the ground in Milan to make so much damn noise. Cardinale again has been blatantly malevolent by waiting for Rafa to re-sign and for the end of the season, taking away the fans platform to protest.
I advocated the Arab takeover and got lambasted for it, the Arab nations love football and care about it, they respect the history of the clubs and for the larger part, create beautiful teams and do huge amounts for the local economies through the infrastructure they build. As with Liverpool and United, American ownership has shown itself to be merely an investment. This is not our game. These greedy bankers and hedge funds need to launder their dirty money elsewhere….
Today everyone who posts here should unite, whether you like Pioli or don’t, whether you want Berardi or Ziyech, SMS or Loftus Cheek…either you think Maldini was a good director or not l..our club is under attack and we need to defend it, our magnificent captain, loyal to the core, who never let us down has been betrayed and we need to stand by him, and this beautiful club of ours.
For anyone who Is not in the Maldini camp, perhaps your age is telling. I as an 8 year old watched a 16 year old Maldini for the first time, I watched him grow into the best LB in history, I then watched him convert to one of the best CBs of all time seemelssly and last another 10 years. No player in history has been the best in the world for over 20 years. There is only one GOAT, it isn’t Messi, Ronaldo, it’s our no3
We lost IZ as a player unfortunately, could have gone till 45 – if the knee wanted to … at least as a 1 halftime or 30min mascot etc. …but he will be back in a function, after some certain education, etc. probably. Yea, the Maldini Topic is a shock ofc… but we don’t decide anything guys. The €€€ holders decide – in the end. On the other hand there is that business side and his (PM2) performance over the years etc. Can’t rely purely on the fact that the man is legend and keep him on that basis forever there… I mean look at Bayern and Kahn Situation, that one also got ugly. Only thing that right now (besides sadness cause IZ11 left) comes to my mind is that Milan needs new players, like roughly said, 2 defense ones and 2 offensive ones, each around 30-50 mil.€ worth, than we can think about “tripple” plans etc.
It’s time to boycott Milan people. The only language this owner speaks in money, so let’s hit him where it hurts: his wallet. No more purchasing merchandise, no more buying tickets to live matches. Leave the San Siro empty. He’ll get the message.
This is completely stupid. They are killing the club! Maldidni is a legend of Milan and he gave a lot to the team. All the project is built around him and his figure. Please get Maldini back and sack Cardinale out of the club. Milan is way bigger than him and his company
Lets face a few facts.
Maldini.. A good SD? Or a bad One?
The major complain was… he couldn’t sell a few players.
1. Dollarumma. His agent was Raiola. He was trying to get Dollarumma out of the club for free since the Morontella days. Seasoned SDs couldn’t negotiate with this fat dead P_i_g in other clubs, Maldini had no chance. And letting him go was the BEST Decision a SD could possibly make considering the P-I_g’s demands.
2. Kessie. We surely could’ve sold Kessie.. Maldini had to make a choice, Sell Kessie for profit, or get the best out of him for one more season. He chose the latter. Was it a wise choice? YES because Scudetto speaks for itself.
3. Hakan. The difference of Salary was just 500k and it’s 100% gazidis written ALL OVER IT. He pulled the same $hite in Arsenal, it got so bad, arsenal fans started boycotting their own home games.
People who are saying Maldini was the one who ‘FAILED’ to sell these players.. Clearly lack some info. It wasn’t like Maldini had the supreme authority over these decisions. Gazidis interfered in EVERY one of these deals where finances was involved.
About Maldini’s transfers.. No one complained about his transfers until this season. This season he had 50 mil budget.. brought in a 35 mil CDK and origi for free with big salary.
Lets talk objectively.. CDK, Origi, Vrankxx, Thiaw, Adli, Dest… ! CDK has performed bad this season for sure. There is no way to spin this around, he is a sure flop. So is Origi. And Origi was a bad choice from the very get go.
Dest is a flop but on loan. So it is a gamble that didn’t work. Vrankxx.. another gamble but we don’t even know if it worked. Adli.. us fans saw it work, for some reason, Pioli didn’t. Thiaw was the super signing.
Now lets see why the summer turned out to be an utter flop. The biggest f*k up that happened this season for Milan, was Cardinale. he not only f*ed up our summer this season by not renewing M&M till the last moment, he also made sure we lose all of our primary targets. Namely, Botman, Renato, Zaniolo. If Maldini actually had his ways… Our whole season would have been very different. We wouldn’t suffer this fate. SO, this summer for Milan was F*ed up by Cardinale. This Cardinale guy has been F*ing it all up since the day he stepped in Milan.
Question is, can Cardinale make it all better post Maldini? From what it looks like.. NO. The best players, Theo, Ben, Leao, Maignan would want to secure their future elsewhere because Milan is gonna be an ambitionless, profitable, feeder club.. like RB leipzig or Atalanta or some french club that’s not PSG whlie these players have come to win it all because of Maldini’s vision of Milan.
FYI, As of March 2023, AC Milan had the most valuable squad in Serie A, with a combined market value of 658 million euros. But It’s Napoli now after Scudetto skyrocketted their players’ values.. But Milan in second. All thanks to Maldini and that happened with 50 mil budget for 4 straight years.
So, in hindsight, despite Maldini’s failures this season, he remains one of the best SDs in serie A, hands down. Not only financially, but also his sporting achievements.
For the humor, Lets consider this as an owner firing his SD who didn’t do anything for the club. What was the reason? Is it sporting failure? If it is, what was the reason behind this failure. Cardinale himself. The owner didn’t let the SD operate freely.. EVER and 0 budget was made available in the winter. So what did Cardinale do, he fired the SD whose transfers were messed up because of Cardinale’s own decision.
This is pretty much Banter Era 2.0 except it’s gonna be much much worse. At least Li was present in Milan games despite his scams and F’ups. He was actually a Milan fan unlike this yankie con artist. And if Cardinale is betting on new Stadium to bounce back, he already lost the bet because Berlusconi, literally a mogul in Italy, couldn’t do it but this nobody will pull it off? lol I hope he does BTW.
Basically. Maldini got fired for asking Cardinale to invest some of the money Maldini’s sporting successes had brought to the club.. !
The only way out of this mess is if Cardinale actually has a plan to bring Milan back on top. But I highly doubt he has. He just wants to make Milan profitable. No passion here. No foresights either.
I do understand why Cardinale is like a rabidD0g for profit now. He knows stadium isn’t going to happen anytime soon and to actually buy the club, he needs to use the profits made from Milan to Buy Milan. Aka.. we aren’t winning anything over the next few seasons. We aren’t Qualifying for UCL either under Pioli if leao leaves which seems very likely as the project he signed up for is now gone with Maldini, so revenue drops from results.. we become a feeder club because we’d ONLY make money from selling players since sporting success will be non existent. Revenue from selling players happen ONLY If they Perform on field.
So the club will end back up in Elliot’s hand with total certainty! I hope Elliot brings back Maldini when it happens in next 3~5 years.
Forza Milan.
World class post my friend! 👏 you’ve hit every nail.
I posted yesterday that I think this has been planned by Cardinale malevolently. He sees 300m in sales from Theo, Mike and Rafa, and he can claim they chose to go…
All we can hope for is an Arab saviour. 100% agree on last summer and cardinale and the takeover scuppering our summer market. Again, probably a strategic move by the punk.
I don’t see how after a successful CL run that there isn’t more to invest back into the team. The only business sense this makes is for cardinale to make short term financial gains.