Paolo Maldini says it would have been easier for Milan to have signed Paolo Dybala but he would not have been the right profile for the clubs project. The Rossoneri director was speaking after the clubs Champions League elimination at the hands of city rivals Inter, who won 3-0 on aggregate, setting up a final against Real Madrid or Manchester City. Talking with Sky Sport Italia, Maldini explained why Inter deserved to make it to the final of the competition and reiterated the clubs plans to focus on building a young team which includes the likes of Charles De Ketelaere, who has yet to show his worth:
Is the fairy tale over at the most beautiful point?
“It is normal that the further you go, the more beautiful it becomes, however, we have to be aware of our level. Inter deserved, in the two matches, to go to the final, despite this our path in the Champions League was fantastic and unexpected. Maybe the fact that we lost to Inter causes this to be seen as a negative, but we have to be aware that we are not yet ready to compete on two fronts, and what Di Canio said now is true, some players really struggle to play every three days. I always say that champions manage especially on a psychophysical level to reset and restart as if they had not played three days before. Right now we struggle.”
Do you need a larger squad?
“It is also a matter of time, this was the first Semifinal for so many of our players. In the first match we went in with a lot of fear and it showed very clearly, we were almost lucky that the game wasn’t over in the first half. These are all experiences. I always remember where we started from, sometimes you forget, and you think there is continuity from Berlusconi’s Milan. There is not. There was that period that was very hard, we did it not by doing economic madness but with a lot of cuts and a lot of sacrifices, and I must say that we are still proud to be here.”
Do you need to increase the technical level of the team to compete in Europe?
“Yes, we have players who need to grow. We have players born in 2001, 2000, Leao himself is a class of 99. When you lean on players like that who don’t have experience at this level even their performance sometimes suffers, that’s clear. Then we are not in a beautiful period, we played less well than last year, where we deserved to win the championship against this Inter. But I have to say that between the Super Cup and the Champions League they were better than us.”
“De Ketelaere is an example of players who have to grow, it’s normal. It would have been much easier and much less expensive for us to go for a player like Dybala at the beginning of the year. But would it have been the right purchase for our project? Would it have been right and shared by the ownership? No. We know that we have an idea and we have the will to build a young and talented team. When you take young guys you take risks, you risk that they will struggle. It was like that for Tonali the first year, it was definitely like that for Charles this year, but this is our idea of football, our idea of how to invest. It is something shared with the ownership. If I had to make a stronger formation today maybe I would have used the transfer market differently. That is not the case because we have a project that we are developing together. It takes time, always being aware that we are Milan. This we know, who better than I can know that we have a great history on our shoulders?”
Why are you always in the headlines at the top of criticism when Milan doesn’t win?
“I don’t know if you remember my general relationship (with the press, ed.). Let’s say I have great respect for the work of the press but the balance, I have to find myself, what happens and the real things that are not influenced by the moment we see. Taking responsibility is a good thing, I’ve always liked that.”
“Origi? He has everything to be a great footballer. He has physique, technique, speed, shot, right, left foot. Effectively he struggles to determine in the area of the opponent’s goal, and this is a problem because he is a striker. Honestly we expect so much from him, we got him on a free transfer but it was a major investment from the salary point of view. Watching him in training we know what he can do, he is another example of a player who is experienced but still failed to give what we expected. We took him to be an alternative to Giroud, that was a thought we had.”
