Paolo Maldini spoke on 11 October about the situation with Rafael Leao's renewal and expressed his goal to extend his contract before the start of the World Cup. However, this is now not possible. He spoke in an interview to those at Sky Sport Italia and said the following words:
"We have been thinking about it for months and years. When the time comes we meet, when a decision has to be made, we will make it", he said when asked about the renewals of Bennacer and Leao, "The idea was to close before the World Cup, especially for the players who went to the World Cup, in this case for Leao but it wasn't possible. With Bennacer we will have the opportunity to talk to him and his agents these days."
On the Scudetto race with Napoli many years ago:
"I remember it well, they were wonderful years for Italian football. We had a great team, they had Maradona and other great champions. For us, it was the beginning of 25 years of success and now there could be this clash. They have overshadowed everything the other teams have done because we, having only two points less than last year and having passed the Champions League group anyway, find ourselves 8 points behind a team that sincerely made a first amazing part of the season. Big credit to them, we know we can't give up. We'll be there until the end and we'll see: everything is in their hands and this is a great advantage, but the championship is very long."
Maldini on the role of a father to the youngsters:
"There are sensations and sensations, there are also careers and careers, not for everyone the same, for me and I think also for my two children. There was enormous pressure, I've never felt the lightness of the young man who doesn't feel responsibility. We also need to understand young people, we cannot base ourselves on what our experience has been, each of us lives it in his own way. We have to adapt what our experiences have been to modern times."
On the award of best club director of the year by Globe Soccer Awards:
"The award is a satisfaction. I'm not a sporting director, mine is a figure that doesn't exist in all teams, it is associated in part with that of the Sports Director and in part with that of the manager of the technical area. A different figure that I've sewn on for a bit and after four years a new chapter in my life is starting, but I'm very pleased to be here."
Maldini on Zlatan Ibrahimovic:
"We renewed the contract with a precise idea, to have him with us for the training camp in Dubai and hopefully on the pitch in January: this is the goal."
