MN on Maignan and Rabiot:
During Milan's week of cuts, the captain shows disrespect to his teammates, coach and fans
It is not the four extra days of vacation as a situation in itself, but the four extra days of vacation as yet another gesture of indifference that make this latest episode so depressing – another situation that shows how the divide between Milan's players and those who genuinely care about the Rossoneri has now become irreparable.
The story is always the same and has been going on for years: Milan's players feel like they have already made it and are entitled to do whatever they want without consequences. This attitude has produced some frankly unacceptable episodes, from the cooling-break incident to the argument between coach and captain on the pitch after Milan-Parma, all the way to the current captain being the last player to return to his club among all those who took part in last month's World Cup. We were talking about that divide. On one side there is a fanbase whose pride has been deeply wounded, but which continues to love its team. Even when protesting fiercely, it never stops supporting those who step onto the pitch.
On the other side are players who, judging by their words, are the best in the world. Superstars of Instagram posts and pre-match declarations – because after matches they disappear, leaving the talking to the same few players who at least have the dignity to show their faces. When the moment comes for actions, substance and results, they evaporate like snow under the August sun.
Milan are coming off an eighth-place finish and a fifth-place finish. Two terrible seasons from a sporting perspective for different reasons, but both ended with fierce protests against the management, the ownership and the players themselves. Many grains of sand make a desert. Many behaviours, small gestures and failures to meet certain standards perfectly explain why Milan find themselves in this situation. Everything imaginable has already been said about the owner and management – rightly so. The players, meanwhile, have always been protected like poor defenceless souls who need shielding from supposedly excessive and unfair criticism.
In football, only two things matter: facts and what happens on the pitch.
The pitch tells the story of an embarrassing Milan, outside the Champions League for two consecutive years in a Serie A whose overall level continues to decline. And the facts show that most of those wearing the Rossoneri shirt simply do not care about what happens around them. It is just a job. It begins when they walk through the gates of Milanello and ends when they walk back out again.
So far we have barely mentioned Rabiot, but that does not mean he should be excluded from these considerations. He simply has the "fortune" of being alongside the man wearing the captain's armband once worn by Baresi, Maldini, Ambrosini and many others. It would be madness to compare even for a second the human and professional stature of today's players with the legends of the past. But the Milan captain's armband – especially in these days when the entire football world is mourning the loss of a giant like Franco Baresi – comes with standards that must be respected.
Maignan meets none of them, least of all with this latest careless decision to postpone his return. There is a new coach to get to know and a team to lead in search of the sporting redemption that has been missing for far too long. The captain's response? He asks for – and receives – additional days of vacation. Comparisons are always unpleasant, but on the other side of the Naviglio, Lautaro returned to training yesterday at Appiano Gentile. Thuram, who is French, and Stones, who is English, followed him back. Nobody is absurdly demanding that footballers should never switch off or go on vacation.
There is, however, a difference between someone who behaves like a captain and leads by example and someone who wears the armband only for the photographers and empty talk. The facts – the concrete ones that actually matter – are there for everyone to see. The players currently wearing the Milan shirt seem to believe they have entered the club's history because of one Scudetto and half a Supercoppa. They have indeed entered history – but for the wrong reasons.
It is important that they understand that this will be remembered as an extremely dark and negative period in Rossoneri history, and they will be remembered as some of its negative protagonists. Amorim had announced that this would be the week of the cuts, and we have already seen the first signs of movement on the way out. We have also seen exactly how much consideration Milan's captain has for his club, his teammates, his coach and his supporters.