Paolo Maldini believes Milan are light-years away from the Rossoneri side he was part of in 1999.
Paolo Maldini believes Milan are light-years away from the Rossoneri side he was part of in 1999.
In an interview with Gazzetta dello Sport today, the former centre-back also said he feared a decline in fortunes was around the corner for the San Siro side as far back as 2007.
“This Milan is a light years from 1999,” Maldini said. “To rebuild the squad there will need to be a lot of investment.
“When we won the Champions League in 2007 I said to Galliani that we weren’t thinking about being the best in Europe.
“Even then I already knew that without a rebuild a decline would start.
“That was the first step, but the final blow came when we let Ibrahimovic and Thiago Silva leave.”
The 45-year-old also revealed his anger at the way Andrea Pirlo was allowed to leave the club and then answered questions on recent fan protests and the role of Silvio Berlusconi at San Siro.
“I have always hated these sorts of things, I would never have accepted people who were younger than me telling me to work harder when I was the one with the most appearances.
“If you’re not happy, boo me but it ends there.
“I remember in 2007, when we won everything, we had no support from the curva for six months.
“They annoyed me and I didn’t understand it.
“The current situation with Berlusconi makes it seem like he isn’t very involved.
“The Berlusconi I knew was involved in other ways as well as from a sporting perspective.”