AC Milan Have Scored A PR Own Goal In Sacking Paolo Maldini

67 words. 67.

That was the sum total of Milan’s official media statement regarding the sacking of arguably the club’s greatest player, Paolo Maldini. 67 words for a man who not only won 23 major honours for the club during an exemplary 25-year playing career, but for a man who returned to Milan during its darkest day and helped rebuild the club, restoring pride in a team that had become the source of ridicule.

Hours after the 2022/23 season was consigned to the history books, the news was out that Maldini was set to leave, that a meeting between he and club owner Gerry Cardinale hadn’t gone as hoped. It was out of the blue and unexpected, Maldini had reportedly told Milan players to enjoy their summer break and he would see them again in July for pre-season.

A day passed between the news that Milan royalty was set to leave and the club’s official statement, containing a mere 67 words. This wasn’t a resignation, but a sacking. How had things escalated so quickly?

The main bone of contention between Maldini and Cardinale was in their different ideologies on how to move Milan forward. Milan’s debt, due to strict budget limitations set first by Elliott Management and now with RedBird, has reduced the club’s debt to a very manageable €66m ($71m) as of 2021-22. This will likely be close to €0, or in the black, once the 2022-23 accounts are published thanks to reaching the semi final of the Champions League and also qualifying for next season’s edition.

Last summer’s budget of around €60m ($64m) was set to be repeated again this summer, despite the money gained from reaching the final four in Europe. This to Maldini wasn’t sufficient. His comments in the aftermath of the Euroderby defeat to Inter, in which he urged Cardinale to free up more cash to invest in the squad this coming summer, spoke of a man with the experience to recognise the club is in danger of plateauing. Many of the current Milan squad, with all due respect, should be watching a Champions League semi final on TV and not actively playing in one.

The public nature of Maldini’s comments didn’t go down well with RedBird, according to multiple reports in Italy. Moreover, it’s been speculated that the summer budget could be as little as €35m ($37m), plus player sales. This hardly screams making the leap in quality needed to regain the Scudetto or make another deep jaunt in the Champions League.

And player sales hasn’t been something this Milan has been very adept at. Another mark against Maldini’s name was the inability to move players on in the last two summer windows, with only €6.5m ($7m) and €13m ($14m) generated in 2021 and 2022. For a club running on a shoestring budget, Maldini had to do better.

Milan only qualified for the Champions League next season due to the Juventus’ saga, and they were the worst defending Serie A champions since 1997. Part of the collapse this season was the summer signings failing to make any tangible contribution.

Divock Origi and Charles De Ketelaere were bit-part players in the title defence. The latter, who ate up the vast percentage of Milan’s budget a year ago, looked especially out of his depth and is already being touted with a departure should a suitable offer arrive this summer. Again, this was another blot on Maldini’s name. Stefano Pioli was effectively forced to use the same team as the one who delivered the Scudetto, albeit with each player a year older and a bit leggier.

While Gigio Donnarumma was replaced by Mike Maignan in 2021, Franck Kessie wasn’t. The lack of an able replacement for the Ivorian hurt Pioli in midfield, and allowing Kessie to leave has, in the end, hurt both parties. His move to La Liga has been a disaster and he could be moved on this summer. Pioli was working with a 14 or 15 player squad and attempting to fight on two fronts.

It’s also thought that Maldini wanted greater autonomy in the sporting direction of the club, and had wanted to replace Pioli with Andrea Pirlo, his former teammate who’d left Turkish side Fatih Karagumruk recently. Cardinale, on the other hand, appreciates Pioli for his ability to develop youngsters and the coach’s undemanding nature for new players.

The confluence of contrasting transfer philosophies, previous mistakes made and Cardinale’s team-oriented recruitment strategy signalled the end of Maldini’s time at the club his family name is synonymous with. Yet Cardinale hasn’t calculated the PR-damage he’s inflicted by letting Maldini go. For a club whose brand outshines both Juventus and Inter on a domestic and global level, sacking club royalty is hardly going to enamour supporters.

Maldini forged a close bond with players like Maignan, Theo Hernandez, Fikayo Tomori and Rafael Leao, and some of them took to social media, posting cryptic messages without words. Yet if you read between the lines, the gist was clear they aren’t happy over the situation.

“In Madrid, I’ve learned that history must always be respected,” said Carlo Ancelotti when asked about Maldini’s sacking.

“Here, Di Stefano, Amancio, Gento and Puskas are exclusive values still respected. What happened to Maldini proves a lack of historic culture and lack of respect for Milan’s tradition. It’s true that you don’t win with history, but history teaches you how to win.” Alessandro Nesta believes getting rid of Maldini was ‘out of all logic’.

Maldini’s dismissal means RedBird are facing an uphill battle to maintain support among Milan fans, who haven’t exactly been thrilled with the ownership one year in. Maldini’s intended targets, such as Domenico Berardi, Marko Arnautovic and Ruben Loftus-Cheek, are likely to be put on hold or scrapped. Meanwhile, the move for Daichi Kamada, which was almost a done deal, also seems to have stalled amid changing plans.

There is now a real fear that without Maldini and the just-retired Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Milan could stagnate. The summer transfer window takes on even greater importance than a week ago. Geoffrey Moncada, who will now take over from Maldini and lead a more analytical approach to recruitment, has to hit the ground running.

If not, Milan’s renaissance could already be over.