A Milan legend has left. The Lombard club has announced the departure of Paolo Maldini, who took on the duties of technical director after returning to San Siro as one of the great idols of ‘Rossonera’ fans for his glorious career as a footballer .
Maldini, 54, hung up his boots in 2009 and in 2018 returned to Milan as director of strategy and sporting development. In 2019 he was promoted to technical director, a position he holds until today.
“AC Milan announces that Paolo Maldini is ending his role at the club on June 5, 2023,” Milan announced. “We thank him for his years of service in the office, which contributed to a return to the Champions League and winning the Scudetto in 2021/22.”
Maldini he spent his 25-year playing career, from 1994 to 2009, in Milan and he was captain in his most successful era, winning five Champions Leagues, seven Serie A titles, four European Super Cups and a Club World Cup, before retiring at the age of 41. .
Back to the Champions League in 2021 and ‘scudetto’ in 2022
During Maldini’s time as technical director, Milan won Serie A in 2022, after eleven years without achieving it, with players he signed, despite a limited budget, such as Rafael Leao, Theo Hernández, Oliver Giroud, Fikayo Tomori, Mike Maignan or Brahim Díaz, on loan from Real Madrid.
In addition, Milan return to the Champions League in 2021, seven years after their previous participation. Last season they crashed out in the group stage but currently they reached the semifinals, where they were eliminated by eternal rivals Inter.
Milan will also qualify for the next edition of the Champions League as they finished Serie A in fourth place on Sunday.
The reasons for the breakup
According to Italian media, Maldini’s departure surprised Milan players. Property differences in the project to follow and the investment in transfers, in addition to seeing his freedom of movement limited, are the reasons why the break with the legendary former Italian full-back at the club ended.
The fracture ended yesterday Monday morning in the meeting held by Maldini with Gerry Cardinale, owner of Milan and RedBird, the American investment fund that completed the purchase of the club in August 2022.
Beware Serie A and signings that don’t pay
Cardinale was not satisfied with the performance of the team in Serie A, as the fourth place was achieved thanks to the reduction of ten points from Juventus, and of Belgian signings Charles De Ketelaere and Divock Origi last summer.
But regardless of the sports performance, both parties maintain a tense relationship. Actually the ‘feeling’ was not total since Maldini renewed in June 2022 for two seasons after lengthy negotiations.
Stefano Pioli gained weight
“His day-to-day duties will be carried out by a team that will work closely with the first team coach and ultimately report to the managing director,” Milan’s statement added. After the changes, Stefano Pioli, coach of the ‘rossonero’ team, will see his position strengthened.
In addition, Cardinale is more present in Milan to direct the movements in the first person. something wrong Frederic Masara, sports director, is also leaving. The responsibility of managing the market and the staff will now pass into the hands of Geoffrey Moncada, who is the head of scouting for the ‘rossonero’ club.
New structure and new policy
With the, Giorgio Furlani, CEO of Milan since Ivan Gazidis left in December, They will be in charge of implementing the RedBird’s new policy: re-value the squad by signing cheap, selling expensive and betting on young talent.
Source: La Verdad
I’m Rose Herman and I work as an author for Today Times Live. My expertise lies in writing about sports, a passion of mine that has been with me since childhood. As part of my job, I provide comprehensive coverage on everything from football to tennis to golf.
