Paolo Maldini has explained why he walked away from the role of technical director of the Italian national team after only two weeks, telling Corriere della Sera that a breakdown over who controlled the coaching appointment left him with no basis to continue.
The FIGC confirmed Maldini and Leonardo on 11 July as the pair tasked with rebuilding the national setup, a move welcomed across Italian football given Maldini's pedigree. Two weeks later, both had resigned before their contracts even began, and the club legend has now laid out what happened behind the scenes.
Speaking to Corriere della Sera, Maldini described how the project began with a phone call from FIGC president Gabriele Malagò around Easter. "Malagò called me at Easter, saying: 'There's a chance I'll become president of the FIGC; you're the person I'd like to have with me.' I offered my services. For me, there are only two things in football: AC Milan and the national team," Maldini said.
The role was designed as something new. Maldini was to become president of Club Italia, with a technical director position built into the structure for the first time. "Technical director has never been part of the national team's organisational structure: the coach reported directly to the president," he explained. "But that wasn't right: the coach needs to engage with others."
The central agreement, by Maldini's account, concerned who picked the coach. "In fact, the first thing I asked was: who chooses the coach? Malagò replied: 'You choose the coach, and I endorse it'. That was the agreement. Then events caused this to change."
Maldini and Leonardo had drawn up a shortlist of three, all World Cup winners: Andrea Pirlo, Daniele De Rossi and Fabio Grosso. Their brief was a young coach with national team experience and an attacking, technique-first philosophy. "In Italy, we've fallen behind on many things. We wanted the boys' training to be based not on tactical exasperation but on technique, one-on-one play, and an attacking mentality," he said.
Two of the three names were ruled out quickly. Maldini said Malagò told him that, under the terms that secured his election with the backing of every club except Lazio, they could not approach coaches already working at Serie A sides. That excluded both De Rossi and Grosso, leaving Pirlo.
Then Pirlo went too, along with the arrangement that had brought Maldini in. "He called me and Leonardo to say: 'I don't think Pirlo can be hired anymore. From today, I'll decide who the coach is. From today, the rules will change: I decide who the coach is and you approve it.' This was unacceptable. We took 24 hours and submitted our resignations, on a contract that had yet to start. There was no longer any trust to carry out a job that is enormous, even if the project was enticing too," Maldini said.
The four-year deal was due to start on 1 August. By declining to sign it, Maldini turned down a return to the game at the highest level over a single point of principle, control of the one decision he had been promised. For Milan supporters who spent years watching him shape the club's direction, the episode is a reminder of how firmly he draws his own lines.