Milan CEO Giorgio Furlani has broken his silence on Paolo Maldini’s shock sacking, and the imminent Ricky Massara exit. ‘Our ambition has not changed, if anything it has been fortified: to be competitive at the top of European football.’
The split has stunned Italian football and especially the Rossoneri supporters who saw Maldini as one of the key figures in the hierarchy.
“First and foremost I want to say thank you to Paolo and Ricky and express my gratitude to all the collaborators of Milan for their relevant contribution to the Club in these years,” Furlani told La Gazzetta dello Sport.
“Paolo was among the greatest ever players and as a director, along with Ricky, he played an important role in securing our 19th Scudetto. We are sad to see them leave.”
The statement from the club was terse and made clear that Maldini had been fired, whereas Massara’s announcement tomorrow is expected to be different, reflecting that it was a mutual termination of the contract.
“In our club we are constantly analysing the best strategies and models to guarantee that Milan could continue progressing both on and off the field, to compete with the teams who are leaders in Europe.
“The first fundamental element, as I always repeat, is and will remain football. It is with this objective that we decided on an organisational reset that will lead to the creation of a working group for the technical/sporting side of things.”
While Maldini openly urged Milan’s new owners, RedBird and Gerry Cardinale, to invest more and raise the bar, Furlani assures that is precisely what they are doing, just not in the same way that the former director had wanted.
“Our priority now is to consolidate and reinforce the progress made in recent years, in all areas of the club. Our ambition has not changed, if anything it has been fortified: to be competitive at the top of European football.
“We are on the right track, but there is still a lot of work to be done. I hope that our marvellous fans can maintain their intact and constant support for the club, and I personally hope to soon interact with our fans, so they can understand our strategy, to continue seeing Milan grow together.”
The intention from Milan’s new hierarchy would seem to be giving further powers to scouting chief Geoffrey Moncada and also to coach Stefano Pioli, all ultimately answering to CEO Furlani.
This includes the approach that will put more use on algorithms and analytics, an approach made famous by the film Moneyball.