Repubblica: Milan squad in ‘revolt’ over news about Maldini and Massara

The AC Milan squad have been described as being ‘in revolt’ after the news about the departure of Paolo Maldini and Ricky Massara.

A report from La Repubblica confirms that Maldini will leave Milan and that an ‘American revolution’ will start soon, with the team ‘in revolt’ upon hearing the news that the technical director has been sacked.

If you follow our Substack none of this would come as a surprise, given we reported last week that there are some differences that have arisen between the pair.

Ricky Massara will also leave too, as was confirmed during Maldini’s meeting with Gerry Cardinale yesterday. The main players in the squad such as Rafael Leao, Mike Maignan and Theo Hernandez ‘didn’t take it well’.

After a meeting in a hotel in the centre of Milano that lasted one hour, it became clear that Maldini and Massara would be departing the Rossoneri due to ‘irreconcilable differences’ with the ownership ground RedBird Capital.

The duo will therefore divorce from the team that under their leadership obtained a Scudetto, a semi-final in the Champions League and a third consecutive qualification for the most important club tournament in the world.

As mentioned, the key players in the dressing room have not taken the news well at all given how influential the pair have been in bringing some of them in but also how close they are, given their presence at training almost every day.

Tags AC Milan Mike Maignan Paolo Maldini Rafael Leao Ricky Massara Theo Hernandez

31 Comments

  1. Media already starting with their shenanigans.
    “Squad in revolt! ”
    “Players didn’t take it well!”
    You mean like every other person when he hears that a coworker or a boss that hired them got fired?
    You talk about it for few moments, find out what happened and you continue with your workday.
    These are professionals. They lose directors, coaches, or teammates almost on a yearly basis.
    Stop making it more than it is.
    They are all on vacation enjoying themselves.
    There is no one revolting.
    Being upset or saddened is a normal human reaction when something like this happens

    1. This is not some co-worker, this is the defacto leader of the club. The legend, the man they came to play for, the mentor.
      I fully expect the squad to revolt!!!

      Every player on the first team roster should hand in a transfer request. See what that sh#t bag Gerry does then!

    2. Exactly right. I am sure a few players are upset but they are professionals and will get over it and do their job. The only way there may be significant turnover is if they feel the club will no longer be competitive. We also overlook that most players have quite a bit of time left on their contracts limiting their options. They can force their way out of course but not a great look for them if they choose that route.

      1. How can they compete and do their jobs for 50m pounds transfer budget 🤣🤣🤣🤣
        Maldini was fighting for the benefit of the team

        1. You make it seem like 50 million euros is a small budget. Compared to the big European spenders, sure. Milan of today is no longer the Milan of 20 years ago. The days of free spending into debt are over.

          1. It’s enough to buy 1 or 2 players. Milan needs at least 4-5 players to be competitive in all 3 competitions. They lucked out with Juve points deduction and easy group/path to UCL semifinals. They can’t remain stagnant while others improve.

          2. Total winings of this season from cl semis and seria a, wemt somewhere around 80mil. Add a couple of sales makes it 100 mil give it or take a few. That should be used to to build the core 11 and back up for seasons to come. After we build that core than they should start reiking in the profits. Sponsorship money would have gone even further at that point. Pocketing that money now is not good, because we dont have a full squad yet. Well, what does maldini and fans know.

    3. You and I knows very well that the players are not gonna take it well, face the reality man, Maldini is one of the reasons why we have most of this players today, he’s the one that convinced players like Maignan and Leao to come to Milan in the first place..

      You wanted him to go so he has left the club for you to manage just because he asked for more than 50m transfer budget.

      We will all face what comes next and I hope it’s not a bad one.

    1. That total nonesense.

      Yes,but you are only thinking as a Maldini fan…not being critical. Of him…

      Maldini is my hero,but he did make miskates, last season was really bad transfer market after strongarming their boss the wrong way for 50 million…and then, i dont thinks hes recognized that after such abad season. He really just didnt want to anwer after som3one give you 50 million with…nothin to show for, otherthan Thiaw maybe.

      Its unfortunate, and worse that it happened this way, but better now early on the transfermarket, might as well pull bandaid out…and sure lots of suspicion, but i think redbird will feel more confortable spending now becauce its thier guy in charge.

  2. If he had fired Maldini earlier, I think many people would have been ok with it including me because obviously this season would have been a disaster if Juve didn’t get point penalties, his purchase in the summer transfer window was a waste & we keep loosing quality players for free because he doesn’t know how to sell yet he refused to take any responsibility for the failure even going as far as blaming the owners for not signing Dybala but right now, the season has ended & everyone is already looking forward to the transfer market hoping he has learned & can do better this time then Cardinale decides to fire him which is sad & somehow calculated because we spent the better half of last summer worrying about the directors contract & had little time to act & now we will spend this one again talking about directors another way for the owners to avoid spending.. I never wanted an American owners because they are liars & only cares about the profits especially this Redbird that’s just buying shares all around football clubs with 0 investment plans…i just hope we don’t become the Milan of 10 years ago again🥲

    1. What are u saying , did u give him d money to sign those players, if lower clubs can spend 200m pounds on transfer, what stops Milan

    2. They did invest q1.2 billion,i doubt their plan is to take down Milan valuation of 1/4 of his purchase value at mIlan, which is where milan was a few years back

  3. I admit that M&M didn’t do well in the last two transfer windows, but we can’t neglect that previously they did it well, if not very well. Moreover, they achieved a very importan thing that the club previously failed to do: contract renewals.
    Another contribution that is often overlooked: management of the dressing room. There were ups and downs, but their presence ensured the team didn’t fall too low. Let’s be honest. The lads are too young, immature, and not enough quality-wise for big things like Scudetto and UCL semifinal. See teams like Napoli who were in and out UCL zone with arguably better teams. They fell harder after achieving something. This didn’t happen as bad with Milan, thanks to the mental pillars like M&M.

  4. Chelsea spend 600m and do worse than Maldini with 30m in the market. United p!ss money you the wall…let’s get perspective here. When you have peanuts you have to take gambles. We have a squad full of great young players thanks to Maldini! Maignan, Theo, Tomori, Kalulu, Thiaw, Leao…Tonali and Bennacer. CDK is not yet a failure, Origi was a gamble worth taking given he had 30m to rebuild the squad and replace Kessie and Romagnoli. I’m sick of hearing this Maldini and Massara didn’t do good…they have done great given their resources.

    Fans and Players should unite here, stand side by side visibly to show these punk Cardinals that we won’t take his sh!t

    1. Gigi, Kessie, Hakan and Romagnoli all left as a result of that wage cap and agent commissions. How is Maldini a failure in this dealings?

  5. To quote the words of great Pasta Sempa “I am outraged” by the recent developments. @AmericansOut

  6. Every time people complain about the players that left free, putting the blame on Madini, I always wonder if they really understood modern football.

    Let’s start with Donnarumma. Keep in mind these players were signed by Fassone & Mirabelli under the Chinese ownership. Donna had Raiola as his agent – that’s probably the most difficult shark in the business to deal with.

    Donna gave his word and probably listened to Raiola to hold on. There was no way Maldini or anyone could win. You either pay him what he wanted. Milan had to move. Thankfully, Maignan came.

    Hakan followed. We heard the difference was 500k. Question? Who was to approve the money? Madini or Elliott represented by Gazidis?

    Kessie gave his word at the beginning of the season. Somehow, he and his agent started playing games. Are you aware that Milan tried to ship out Kessie in January to Tottenham, but he refused?

    Romagnoli dropped in the perking order once Tomori arrived. His contract was running out and he was the captain. Do you keep your captain on the bench? Or do you strip him? Besides, he wasn’t ready to take a pay cut.

    Keep in mind that the major problem was that these players were on a contract they signed under the Chinese ownership.

    Players signed by Maldini have extended their contracts: Theo, Tomori, Bennacer, Kalulu, Leão, even Tonali took a pay cut to sign.

    Paul Pogba ran down his contract and many other players have done the same.

    Does it mean Maldini has done everything right? No. The Origi & CdK transfers are the ones that stands out. Dest was a panic deal because of Florenzi’s injury – even then, it’s a loan, thankfully.

    Milan wanted Sanchez and Botman, was management ready to release funds. By the time the funds was to come, CdK came into the picture.

    Even then, it may have not happen if another club had bidded higher. If that had happened, we would have rued not signing CdK – especially if he had played well where he may have gone. Bottom line: management is reluctant to spend.

    I expect Maldini to speak to the boys not to “riot” but it will be hard for a while, seeing the legend you came to play for kicked out unceremoniously. It will be worse, if management fails to bring the quality required.

    As it is Kamada may not arrive – if his desire was to play because of Maldini. He may as well change his mind and go elsewhere. Some pundit has already stated that no deal is closed until a signature is on the contract.

    For now, since an official statement has not been made, the press is running wild dropping names of new targets Milan is after. Let’s hope Cardinale will open his wallet and the likes of Gundogan, etc will come…

    1. Thank you for this. It’s very easy to say repeatedly in this forum that we didn’t get money from $ruma, snake and Kessie than it is to break down why each has its own story. I’m very tired of repeating it tbh lol. But yea, there was no way we were going to sell Dollaruma and Kessie because of their agents.

    2. Great writing. I agree with you on CDK. He showed his vision in the limited time he got. I think attacking-wise Pioli is not a good coach. Against teams who are parking buses, Milan can not break the defense due to the lack of plan B or C. Pioli depends on Leao to dribble and put crosses for Giroud. There is no quick one-to-one passes, no running behind the defensive line, and not enough smart and playmaking movements from the attacking players. Origi generally runs behind the line, but Pioli does not play like that. What happens is Origi gets the ball and tries to dribble past 3-4 defenders. He is not a good passer and playmaker. What happens is that he eventually loses the ball. For CDK, his position is not correct. He should be playing as a second striker or winger with three midfielders behind him. CDK also has not adjusted that well to Serie A, but I have no doubt about his quality in the few minutes he played. Also, remember he played well at the highest level (UCL). The signings you can point out are Dest, Messias, Florenzi etc. They were either panic buys or quota-adjusting/ last-minute panic buys.

  7. If I ever criticize Maldini I am a fool. M&M every season has their preferred players, but Elliot will walk past that, second choice but settle for 3rd choice hoping they play well. No season have we signed Masara recommended players instead these players will go and make a name and people blame Maldini for the management’s fault. Julian Alverez, was recommended what happened ended up in man city. Fernandez, Botman, Sanchez. The problem is the management is always too slow, trying everything to make sure they pay peanuts for players. Ziyach was the preferred winger but we are stuck with messias, Jonathan was who they recommended but now origi is. So anybody that blames Maldini needs to go and have his head examined. The problem is the management, Kessie, Calhanoglu, and Donna we just painted them as the enemy but in reality, the enemy is the board. Kessie loved Milan but every player needs to be paid according to their talent. Our board always drags renewal for too long. Simple truth. If Maldini is sacked I want to see the magic the new sporting director wants to perform.

    1. You are meassured for the last season, not past onesor past glories…

      Maldini had full authority to decide. He was given some parameters and he would have dome something else rather than letting them go for nothin. The board did not cause CDK.
      You are so wrong about the salaries at the 3nd of th3 day, it was like that but not the wh9le reason, did you see what Julian Alvarez makes? https://capology.com/player/julian-alvarez-36556/#:~:text=Julián%20Álvarez%2C%20who%20is%2023%20years%20old%2C%20will,for%20the%202022-2023%20Season%2C%20or%20£50%2C000%20per%20week.

      How do you not know if Mondada did scouted Julian,recomended, and Maldini didnt take the chance. He prefers the physical build of CDW. There is a reason why Moncada is sticking around. Leao, Theo wereMoncada scouts.

      The board didnt cause last seasons dissaster transfers. The board and soubd fiscal planning the the whole reason we are even relevant and potentially ahead of others in serie A financially.

      We need to just move on…, asmu h as it pains me about Maldini, my hero

  8. Do you want to have a team you’re proud of or do you want to win trophies? I’m proud of this team but the time has come to win actual trophies. There needs to be big changes. This is the start.

    I hope Giroud is talking to these players about what it’s like to win trophies.

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