Milan director Paolo Maldini explains the importance of tonight’s game with Juventus, reiterates they do not need January reinforcements, but Theo Hernandez has ‘practically agreed’ a new contract.
It kicks off at 19.45 GMT, you can follow all the build-up and action as it happens on the LIVEBLOG.
Liveblog: Serie A Wk23 inc Napoli-Salernitana, Empoli-Roma, Milan-Juventus
“It’s important because it is Milan-Juve, because we want to stay close to Inter at the top of the table, while we would also feel more comfortable in Champions League qualification by keeping Juve behind us,” Maldini told DAZN.
The director was asked if the Rossoneri were in any position to make Dusan Vlahovic-level signings in January, but again reiterated there is no need to sign reinforcements.
“We certainly don’t have the funds required for a Vlahovic-style signing in January, but also someone less expensive.
“It’s true at times we are missing something, but we played the game with Spezia not perfectly, yet good enough to win. We’d be up there fighting with Inter.
“We are up there anyway and I believe we’ve got a deep enough squad to challenge even without reinforcements. That is the idea of the sporting area of the club, regardless of the financial plans.
“Romagnoli and Calabria are back, so the emergency situation is calming down and more should be back soon. Signing a player who needs time to settle, hasn’t played regularly for his club and taking space away from perfectly good players who have done well here, that’s something you need to focus on. If it’s for the next seven or eight years is one thing, but a loan for a few months is another.”
There is some good news, as Theo Hernandez is on the verge of agreeing a new contract at Milan, despite interest from Chelsea and PSG.
“As for Theo Hernandez, we are right down to the details of a contract extension, so we practically have an agreement in place.”
This is the first time that we have seen Milan and Inter play at home in Serie A on the same weekend, and the state of the turf at the Stadio Giuseppe Meazza is disastrous.
“Hopefully the idea is to completely relay the pitch so it should be ready within 12-14 days. Honestly, both Milan and Inter are teams who play good football and need a pitch of a certain level.
“The pitch used to be a sacrilege for the quality of players we had in my day, it was like sand, but it’s still important to have a good playing surface for different styles of football.”
Maldini a DAZN: “Per il rinnovo di Theo siamo agli sgoccioli. Nuovo difensore? Non è stato possibile prendere un giocatore importante” https://t.co/ekyWhmjppt
— MilanNews.it (@MilanNewsit) January 23, 2022
If we don’t need reinforcements in attack then I don’t know who does. Diaz just won’t cut it. Sign a player there at least if not a fit striker.
You have the mighty Diaz who’s 10x better than Calhanoglu. Why would you need any reinforcement?
lol