Paolo Maldini and Gerry Cardinale have bid farewell to each other. There was never any union between them, nor even a convergence of views. One year ago, with a sensational interview with Gazzetta dello Sport, Maldini forced the hand of the new ownership, obtaining what he wanted: a decent budget (50 million) and a free hand in the transfer market. Unfortunately for him, Pioli, and Milan, it turned out to be a failure. From Charles De Ketelaere to Divock Origi, it was a succession of mistakes that created a toxic atmosphere. First, it led to misunderstandings between Maldini and Pioli. Then, Pioli even made unjustified exclusions of the new players.
Thus, AC Milan remained old and predictable, just like the ending of this brief story between a loyal executive, who still brought home a league title, and a demanding ownership that was dissatisfied with the last season. Entering the Champions League zone only thanks to Juventus' penalty or being eliminated by Inter in the Champions League semifinals was a blow, far from an "8-out-of-10 season". If we add to this the fact that Maldini wanted more autonomy compared to last year, not young players but already experienced ones, and a budget higher than in the past, it explains well why the deal fell through. Cardinale couldn't take it anymore and decided to do it with someone else.
Calciomercato.com's writer Giancarlo Padovan wrote the following: "if I were him, I would directly aim for Igli Tare, who was recently released from Lazio after eighteen years of great work. Geoffrey Moncada, the head of scouting, is excellent at what he does, even though he has the advantage of being an insider. According to me, Giorgio Furlani, the CEO and a genuine Milan fan, will be decisive. If Cardinale listens to him, he definitely won't go wrong."
Maldini made a lot of mistakes. He squandered the vudget and now wants more money. With CDK, Origi and Balo Toure, Milan needs to spend to fill these positions which Maldini wasted funds on. The only reason he wants more money is because he wants to fix the problems he created. If CDK had been a good signing and Origi too, we would have been Okay with a 50M budget to buy a right winger and a left back. Maldini also refused to pay 12M for Enzo and courted Renato Danches for a whole mercato, only to bring in Vranckx whose redemption price is ironically the price we were quoted for Enzo. Imagine failing to renew Calhanoglu only to end up wasting 35M on CDK who is technically useless.