Ariedo Braida, in an interview with So Foot, summarized the crisis that Milan is experiencing. Braida was a director at Milan during the golden era under Silvio Berlusconi and Adriano Galliani. Milan is currently 9th in the league and was prematurely eliminated from the Champions League playoffs.
FEELING BAD – “I am sad,” Braida stated, according to reports from La Gazzetta dello Sport. “Seeing Milan in this state makes me feel bad.”
REASONS FOR THE NEGATIVE PERIOD – “An identity crisis and a lack of belonging. Big mistakes have been made for years, at all levels, and the consequence is that we have a club and a team without identity. I predicted at the beginning of the season that they would not be a competitive team: the club is too unstable, there is no clear direction, coaches come and go, and the squad changes every year. To be ambitious, you need continuity, for example, letting a coach work for 2-3 years, ten if possible.”
BLAME – “The players are responsible, but it is difficult to perform in a club without identity. What is missing is a guide, a strongman like Berlusconi. With him and Galliani, there was a guiding principle.”
PAOLO MALDINI – “Sacking him was a blunder, and firing him in that way was inexcusable. Maldini is a legend who worked very well and best represented the institution.”
IBRAHIMOVIC – “He is not a reference point, a strongman. Ibrahimovic does not yet have the skills and experience to be a strongman, capable of running a club, he is only a communicator.”
LEAO, THEO AND MAIGNAN – “They are talented players, but they are not leaders capable of uniting the team and relaunching it. And they do not have the consistency and personality to be leaders. No one is today at Milan.”
SOLUTION – “I would take 4-5 Italian players, like Inter for example. This allows you to create an identity, and then I would take players with character and personality, it is the most important thing.”