John Murtough must emulate Paolo Maldini for Manchester United's summer rebuild

AC Milan ended their 11-year wait for the Scudetto this season. Zlatan Ibrahimovic delivered a rousing speech to his teammates in the dressing room after the Serie A title was officially secured and he made sure to thank Paolo Maldini in that moment.

Ibrahimovic is hardly humble and yet he went out of his way to praise the work of Maldini, such has been his contribution as the club's technical director. Maldini won everything as a player and he's made a flawless transition to the board room after retirement.

AC Milan formally appointed Maldini as technical director in the summer of 2019. Maldini's remit as the club's technical director includes signing new players in the transfer market and that's an area in which he's excelled. Maldini brought Simon Kjaer, Mike Maignan, Fikayo Tomori, Theo Hernandez and Ibrahimovic to the club and those signings have proved outstanding.

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All five players have been instrumental in ending AC Milan's wait for the Serie A title this season and Maldini has been lauded for his role in bringing silverware back to the club. Manchester United could learn a thing or two from AC Milan and Maldini.

“Football teams have cycles. We’re lucky that our cycle lasted 25 years, reaching incredible heights during (Silvio) Berlusconi’s time as president,” Maldini said two years ago when asked whether AC Milan could win their place among Europe's elite again.

“Every club has them. It’s the same for Manchester United, Real Madrid. All these big clubs put super teams together that won everything but they also experienced difficulty at one stage or another in their history.”

AC Milan have arrested their decline