Boban explains ‘de-Milanisation’: “Fans become customers, players become assets” | OneFootball

Zvonomir Boban believes that there are no longer enough figures at AC Milan who understand what ‘Milanismo’ means.

One of the topics that has been spoken about by fans and the media as we approach a crucial summer window is the idea that Milan are sorely lacking managerial figures and also players who know what it means to represent the club.

Thus, there has been talk of an ‘Italianisation’, perhaps following the example set by Inter who have players like Alessandro Bastoni, Francesco Acerbi, Matteo Darmian, Davide Frattesi, Federico Dimarco, Nicolo Barella and others to call upon who know Serie A so well.

Boban gave an explosive interview on Andrea Longoni’s podcast in which he spoke about the signings he almost got over the line and the sacking of Paolo Maldini. You can read it in full here, while below is an excerpt about the feeling of belonging.

“I spoke about ‘de-Milanisation’, that was the fear. And it was clear that they wanted to make people lose that strength of wanting to belong. Because it is too big an emotion for someone who wants to control things differently. ‘Sempre Milan’: what the f*** does that mean?

“The whole world knows what Milan is, they even put ‘Sempre Milan’ on the bus. Please… Obviously it annoys, it flattens, it almost makes you become a robot. The idea is that, that the fans become customers, the players become assets. And so on, this is their way.

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“Maldini’s sacking? A shameful page, done in a shameful way. Indecent, unacceptable and I could say a thousand other bad things. Above all, inexplicable even for them. For them Paolo represented the last obstacle to do what they wanted.

“And the Tonali thing had a big impact, Paolo would never have let him go. We are looking at a difference of 70 million, I don’t know how much specifically. A lot of money but that should never have come to Milan because Tonali shouldn’t have left Milan. Because the boy is a Milan fan.

“When we contacted them he told me he would never go to Juventus and Inter. Paolo and Ricky signed him at a super price for a player like that. In the first year he was stiffened by his love for Milan, by his respect for the stadium and many asked themselves questions.

“My dad told me: ‘Look, he’s afraid of playing’. It was true, but given his potential he needed a year to get used to it and breathe freely. Before he wasn’t free, he was too much of a Milan fan. Leaving a symbol like this, then after the title, after everything he did and how he did it.”