The dismissal of two key Milan executives, technical director Paolo Maldini (a historic former captain of the team) and sporting director Frederic Massara, is official. This is not a mutual decision, but one made by Gerry Cardinale, founder of RedBird and owner of Milan since August 31, 2022, for 1.2 billion euros. Maldini and his main collaborator Massara have been fired, despite having one year left on their contract, and are regarded as key figures in Milan's return to prominence, having won the Scudetto for the first time in ten years last year. Madini was a player at Milan for 25 years, winning 26 trophies and becoming one of the team's symbols. Cesare, his father, played for Milan from 1954 to 1966 and then coached him in the 1970s. Christian and Daniel, his sons, are professional footballers who were raised in the club's youth teams; Daniel also made his first team debut (he is now on loan at Spezia). In short, the Maldini family's history is an important part of Milan's history. Today, Milan pays its players about 87 million euros per year, which is roughly half of what Juventus pays, 50 million less than Inter, a little more than Napoli, who just won the Scudetto, and roughly the same as Roma, who finished sixth. Milan also has healthy balance sheets and almost no debt: it even made a small profit in the last six months of 2022, a very rare occurrence for a top-level Italian football team.
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