There has been some articles posted that Maldini has either renewed his contract for a year, or is in serious discussion to do so with Galliani. This does not come as much of a suprise seeing that Maldini has always been adament that he will play as long as he can still prove to be helpful to Milan. In the eyes of most Rosoneri this would mean that Maldini could potentially play forever, seeing that he is a huge part of any and all succes at AC Milan in the past two decades. Despite his creaky knees, Maldini continues to be a viable back and constantly makes up for his athletic shortcomings with wily experience. It is tough to argue his value even if when he is not at full strength, a 75% Maldini is better than 100% Bonera on any day.
Even more important than his on-field contributions are all of his abilities off the field as the Captain of the club. He has always been instrumental in helping new comers such as Scheva, Pirlo, and Nesta over the past years in getting acclimated to the San Siro, and is huge asset in grooming young players, many people forget that Kaladze was not at the level he is know when he arrived at Milanello, and Kaladze attributes his success to playing game in and game out along side the legend.
As an Azzuri and Milan fan it was very difficult to see Cannavaro lift the trophy in Germany, knowing that Maldini was truly DESERVING of that honor, his World Cup Trophy was always a bit out of reach. As a fan all I can say is "FORZA PAOLO" on your way to hopefully at least one more Champions League trophy.
On Sunday Milan will honor a farewell game to Billy Costacurta who was also an influential part of the Milan backline that had tons of success both domestically, and abroad. Costacurta has not played since Milan lost to Roma in the Copa Italia, and I am very grateful that this was not the last game that Costacurta played because it was not a showing to represent an awesome career.