Certain Types of Names

After years of patchwork transfer markets and Galliani free transfers, the sporting side of Milan has vastly improved since the return of Paolo Maldini. Even more so when Zvonimir Boban was brought in as Chief Footballing Officer last summer. If you have paid attention to the interviews with the players they have brought in since then, pretty much all of them have talked about answering a call from either Maldini and or Boban or both, and that having them at the club was what made them choose Milan. Even on the latest podcast, Milan goalkeeper Asmir Begović mentioned that he was at the club due to “certain types of names” calling him.

Certain Types of Names

Having Maldini and Boban influencing players to come to Milan has provided a way for the club to bring in not only better quality players, but also players who will play on low wages. As far as the sporting sector is concerned, it really doesn’t get better than this. This concept puts the team on the fast track to get back to winning ways, while cutting costs to improve the bottom line at the same time. It’s perfect.

Remember how Leo Duarte described in one of his first interviews that he was at the mall, and his phone rang, he looked at the caller ID and saw “Paolo Maldini?” Just the name alone makes players want to jump at the chance to come to Milan.

What could have been tricky negotiations with Raiola went smoothly because of Boban

Likewise, Ibrahimovic spoke with both Maldini and Boban, but especially Boban. His influence was massive in getting the striker to return to the club, due to Ibrahimovic’s parents originating from Bosnia and Croatia.

There are so many other stories from the other players, too. Boban was the first person to talk to Rebic, for example, who turned out to be a massive signing. Theo Hernandez recounted:

“I needed to play and my meeting with Paolo Maldini made me change my mind. He came to see me in Ibiza, we connected immediately. Maldini is a phenomenon, probably the best ever in my role. We talked and he knew me well. When someone like Maldini who chooses you, it shows he trusts you.”

All of the important players came because of certain types of names

So if Maldini and Boban are bringing success to the sporting side of the club, why would Gazidis go behind their backs and talk to Rangnick about coaching and running the sporting side of things? How does changing the sporting director every single year help anything?  And changing the director also means changing the plans for the football aspect of the club. It’s completely ignorant, it hurts the club on every level, and takes us back to yet another year zero.

If Boban has been so influential in bringing in the two most influential players of the January mercato, then why fire him… really, for any reason? He and Maldini have done more for the club in nine months than Gazidis has done in twice that long. As the directors of the technical side, they deserve to know any negotiations in that sector, and they would never go behind someone else’s back, let alone lie. That Boban was fired for outing Gazidis’ deceit is the ultimate irony, since Gazidis has done little to nothing to improve the financial side of the club. But hey, at least all of the messages in the dressing room and tunnel of one of the most storied Italian are in English now. It’s all about priorities.

One of these guys is shady, the other was fired

Gazidis’ projects have typically made money before, but always at the expense of the football. Why he is screwing up the one area of the club that was improving fiscally, I’ll never know. Disrespecting two amazing football legends like that tells me you don’t respect football at all. And if firing Boban also means the exit of Maldini, then Milan will no longer even be a football club. I will just be another organization where Gazidis buys and sells young boys for profit, closer to human trafficking than a football club.

Maldini and Boban have brought back the players. They have brought back much improved football. Even after the mistake with Giampaolo, they corrected well with Pioli. They have brought back the fans, and the faith of the fans. Them bringing back Ibrahimovic was something Gazidis vetoed last year. His veto literally cost us the Champions League. Every ounce of credibility the club has regained is because of those two legends. Two legends that are now only one. A move that makes absolutely no sense when you consider all of the people who look to the club because of “certain types of names.”

This post inspired by the music of The Smiths’ “This Night Has Opened My Eyes”