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Paolo Maldini and Silvio Berlusconi have been engaged in a war of words over the past week over the management of Milan and the fact that Maldini has not been offered a role in the club since hanging up his boots in 2009.
The conflict started at the beginning of the week, when Berlusconi said that Maldini had chosen a different path in his post-playing life, as Maldini is a minority owner of the NASL's Miami FC, and as a result couldn't work for Milan. Maldini then unleashed a scathing counter to Berlusconi's statement as he stated that he has no internal role with the American club, and that he desperately desires a position at Milan.
When asked whether he was still open to working for the club Maldini responded "With the current ownership absolutely not, because we have totally opposing views". Maldini went on to slam Milan for not opening its doors to its champions like Bayern Munich, and criticized Milan for having no project.
On Friday Berlusconi responded to Maldini's remarks and said that Milan's doors are always open for Maldini, but doubted Maldini's availability to work for the club.
This dispute typifies the problems that Milan currently face. The fact that Paolo Maldini has not been given a role within Milan is a downright disgrace. The fact that management is openly excluding arguably the greatest player to ever play for the club because of the fact that he knows that they are the problem is downright vile. A simple look around other Serie A clubs shows Pavel Nedved and Javier Zanetti working as directors for Juve and Inter, and Francesco Totti being promised a role at Roma when his playing career is over.
At Milan, legends such as Clarence Seedorf, Filippo Inzaghi and Paolo Maldini have been disrespected and cast aside despite the fact that all of them wanted to pay back Milan. The fact that these champions are denied roles within the club because they question the hierarchy and have their own unique ideas on how the club should be run is an absolute embarrassment. This feud shows just how badly Milan need a change in ownership and management, hopefully the Chinese consortium can provide that.