Italian and AC Milan legend Paolo Maldini could be poised to join the backroom staff at Chelsea. Italy’s most capped player could follow former AC Milan manager Carlo Ancelotti to the 2006 Premier League Champions and become part of the back room staff – which includes former AC Milan midfielder Ray Wilkins.
The 40 year old defender has only just retired after playing 874 competitive games for the Milan club – where he played alongside legends of the game such as Marco Van Basten, Franco Baresi and Kaka. A BBC senior football reporter was quoted as saying “I understand that a high-level meeting took place between Carlo Ancelotti, Paolo Maldini and Roman Abramovich at Chelsea’s training ground on Friday. There’s been talk of him being either a general manager or a joint-assistant coach alongside Ray Wilkins, but at the moment any role for Madini is unspecified. He’s only just retired from a glittering career and it’s a question of whether he is willing to embark straight away into a coaching career, but it seems clear that Ancelotti wants him as part of his backroom staff.”
Maldini won a number of honours in his glittering twenty four year career which includes seven Serie A titles, 5 Champions league trophies – whilst also equaling the record for number of finals appearances – and also played in four World Cup finals – 1990, 1994, 1998 and 2002. Maldini is indeed a rare breed, playing for a club in modern day football for over twenty years is some achievement and Chelsea will welcome one of the best defenders the world has ever seen.
