Leonardo baffled Milan opted against ‘healthy’ Maldini project: “Such a positive environment” | OneFootball

AC Milan’s former technical director Leonardo has shared his thoughts on the departure of Paolo Maldini and the direction of the Rossoneri’s project. Although admitting that he’s biased, he expressed great support for the club legend.

Leonardo was appointed the technical director of Milan when Elliott Management took over the club from Yonghong Li in 2018. While his spell wasn’t successful, signing the likes of Lucas Paqueta and Krzysztof Piatek for a lot of money, he did help Maldini ease into his role.

When Leonardo left in 2019, Maldini took his role and managed to build a positive project, along with Ivan Gazidis and Zvone Boban. Speaking to the Supernova podcast, Leonardo shared his thoughts on Milan’s current project and the one of Maldini.

“I’m biased, I’m a good friend of Paolo. I have known him for 25 years. I certainly see everything with a positive eye. But Paolo and Milan… These stories are very rare. But it’s not just for that. Not only did he have a brilliant career as a player, Paolo in five years – and I was there when we returned to Milan with Elliott – managed to create such a positive environment.

“Suddenly, they managed to fight for everything they previously couldn’t, and it put everyone in the same boat: he won a Scudetto and reached the semi-final of the Champions League. It’s not just the results, it’s also the way it was done. People were involved in the project, it was a healthy thing,” he stated.

Milan are currently in deep waters, sitting in eighth place, and missing out on the Champions League is a concrete risk. A lot of the progress made in the last few years would be eliminated by such an outcome, which would be far from good.