Arrigo Sacchi believes that Paolo Maldini was a victim of the new ‘American mentality’ at AC Milan which promotes ‘ruthlessness in business’.
The shockwaves are still being felt after RedBird Capital opted to go in a new direction by sacking Maldini and his right-hand man Ricky Massara less than 48 hours after the final game of the season against Hellas Verona.
It is now CEO Giorgio Furlani and chief scout Geoffrey Moncada who are heading up the recruitment team, with Maldini’s return to Milan being abruptly halted after five years back at the club.
Interviewed by La Nazione, the former Milan boss Arrigo Sacchi, spoke about the ex-captain’s farewell to the Rossoneri, with his comments relayed by Calciomercato.com.
“Paolo has done very well for me in recent seasons. Two years ago which Rossoneri director would not have signed for a Scudetto and a Champions League semi-final? Everyone makes mistakes on the transfer market and Maldini paid for the ruthlessness in business that is typical of the American mentality,” he said.
Ultimately, it seems as though Maldini paid for a 2022 summer transfer window that did not yield great returns in terms of contributions from players, while he also was quite outspoken about strategy towards the end of the season.
Yeah because Maldini definitely wasn’t stirring the pot and didn’t waste 50M in transfers and contracts. I mean apparently he didn’t listen to Pioli or Moncada about transfers. Don’t forget Maldini wanted to sign Diaz for 20M+ this summer. I liked the job Maldini has done overall but after last summer I would have considered firing him for buying Diaz and proposing replacing Pioli with Pirlo. I wanted to replace Pioli too but not with Pirlo, does no one remember how terrible Juve was under him! Does no one remember Maldini passing on Enzo Fernandez to sign CDK, does no one care about 4M+ for Origi. This American boogie man bs is just Italians trying to scapegoat those attempting to modernize their archaic calcio and their antiquated way of running a football club. Sacchi I love you but why do you explain why it’s been 20 years since Italian clubs have won anything?
Don’t you remember Enzo already sign Benfica contract by the time Maldini receive transfer budget from Cardinale?
Don’t you remember that CDK transfer was recommended and aided by Moncada?
Don’t you remember Maldini had farewell lunch with Pioli after the sacking thereby dispelling rumour about fallout?
Nah @Yelnats24 – donkeys like this @Nelli and @Pioli who are Redbird lovers love to ignore FACTS just because for some odd reason they hate Maldini. Sad
Pirlo was only of the names. The bottomline is that Maldini didn’t see Pioli as irreplaceable, while on the other hand, the owner deemed Pioli is indespensible. For whatever reason. Maybe for economical measure. Seeing the way M&M were inappropriately replaced and recklessly patched with ones that are already on their payroll.
💯👌
The problem I see with Maldini he wanted to be the “be all and end all’s, he wanted total control and that way does not work, it simply doesn’t as you need to be able to judge things from a different angles as one angle alone is not feasible.
Other then that we know the legend that is Maldini is and our greatest ever player and my personal favorite after Ruud Gullit
I think Maldini fell victim to the way this club has always been run since he was in it.
So he got success with his work. And wanted a “sugar daddy” to reinforce the team even more.. like berlo did in his day.
But that is not what bird wants to do.
Sh!t hit the fan and that was it..
Second, he was not happy with piolis work. Heck find me a Milan fan who was happy this season.. you could see during games the look on Maldinis face..
He got him players he couldn’t use. Feels like there wasn’t much cooperation going on there..
Yep. It’s safe to say that the synergy between Maldini & Pioli wasn’t great and RedBird thought one of them should go. Was it the right choice? Weeeell…. Time will tell but so far it doesn’t look like it.
How can time will tell if the season not yet started. Both of them have farewell party as italian comrade also with massara. I dont think both of them clashed but just RedBird clash with previous director
“How can time will tell if the season not yet started. ”
Wow. I didn’t think I would need the mansplain this but here we are. 😀 😀 😀
Time will tell = It’s safe to say it was the right choice to keep Pioli and fire Maldini if Milan will win the scudetto and reach UCL final. If Milan finishes below TOP4 it can be argued that it was in fact Pioli who should have been kicked out instead of Maldini.
Did I make myself clear enough?
And having a bad synergy with someone isn’t the same as “to clash with someone”.
I think if bird really wanted revolution they should have sacked both of them..
But that kinda a move has to be planed months in advance.
I don’t think they ever wanted a revolution. I think they just wanted things to cool off and better synergy amongst the management. Who wouldn’t?
Not a healthy environment where a director is planning on replacing the coach with someone else while asking for more money and power etc. Not saying it’s Maldini’s fault but it’s the easier option to fire him than giving in to his (public) demands. And for what’s it worth, I would have rather seen Pioli gone but not my call…
O yeah.. That Pirlo idea was whack.. Maybe if he had a couple of good seasons in seria a. but as he is now.. hard pass, rather chance it with Pioli.. Throw some lighter fluid on him and see if we can make fire again..
Sad days but maldini did force their hand.
I dont like Milan without maldini.. there is a viod.
After he retired we was like waiting, when will he get a job at the club.. And waiting, and waiting.. nothing.. And then finally, Maldini back at AC Milan.. The world had more colour in it.. and now its back to grayscale.. pfff
Life
This sounds very plausibly. Maldini did wonders with the very limited budget he had, using his name and reputation. He also missed some shots, but what to expect with that budget?
#cardinaleout
And don’t forget that ridiculous salary cap.
All this argument of Maldini right or wrong won’t make a difference….one transfer window of last year isn’t a concrete reason for a sack…..what is happening now is because of what Maldini did prior to last year transfer window tonali sale profits and all values added to players like theo,Mike and all. There was a personality clash between owners and Maldini…..American are known for prudence and strict control on costs which won’t help a club like milan in long run unless you are mid table club….we were Italian champions because of Maldini core players selection…..after take over and kessie sale put a severe dent on our style of play and he wasn’t replaced….now we sale tonali I can bet anything I love Milan since early 1990s and rossoneri by heart but milan won’t qualify for champions league place…..there is simply too much holes to fill and right now we all know what red bird policies are…..all these arguments of we will have our stadia then we will rule is pointless because of burecractic levels in Italy…..this club will be for sale in next 5 years and thats what investment funds do…its plain and simple business strategy you increase value by investing in infrastructure and other ventures….the quality of football comes secondary..milan historical value is enough to keep the brand name going….self sufficient means club spend what they earn and to simplify we will sell then we will invest….I know with out winning our sponsor will be dented but in American ways American Market is too big to exploit….
Redbird is a business machine only. They get rid if any heart and any national sentiment. They fired management at toulouse They got rid on opposition and made sure the team was barely french to make sure there was no passion. I believe toulouse plays 2 french players per game… it ls sad.
So they do the same here. Fire Maldini and any opposition. Get rid of the closest thing to a bandied in tonali and basically make sure to not even target italian players. And go purely data and profits. This managemet is a disgrace and only serves 1 thing… it’s investors.
Bandiera*