Paolo Maldini could have owned part of AC Milan, the club which he loves so much, however, he denied the opportunity.
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It is an occasional thing in football where people are offered stakes in clubs to forego some of their salary. Alternatively, it can be used as an incentive to keep them at the club. It is certainly not common, but it is not unheard of.
It seems that Maldini was also offered this situation. A chance to own a stake in the club so close to his heart. However, it would seem that he rejected this deal.
Maldini rejected Milan stake
On X, Stefano Donati revealed that Gerry Cardinale had made an offer to the legendary defender, as MilanNews relays.
“We’ve read in the friendly press these days that Cardinale had offered Maldini a stake in AC Milan, which he refused, but Ibrahimovic didn’t, ergo, great Ibrahimovic… The issue needs to be explained carefully: Cardinale had offered Maldini stakes in AC Milan to pay part of his salary.
“Paolo refused because he saw a conflict of interest with the work he was supposed to be doing. Let me give you an example: do I spend to strengthen the team or do I think about my wallet and my stakes?
“This is yet another demonstration (not that it was needed) of the treasure AC Milan had with Maldini as manager: the good of the team comes first, always. Even at the cost of sacrificing his own financial interests, it’s nothing like a one-man show…”
It would appear that the same offer was made to Zlatan Ibrahimovic, and this has actually been a part of why he couldn’t be fired from his role – due to him owning a part of RedBird – as Gazzetta dello Sport wrote, via Football Italia.
Considering the relationship, or lack thereof, between Maldini and Cardinale, who knows how different things would have been without that offer.