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What's the story?
Sir Alex Ferguson, who single-handedly established Manchester United as the best club in England and Europe over the previous two decades has revealed recently that AC Milan and Italy legend Paolo Maldini is a player that he could never sign for the Red Devils, as reported by TheMilanBible on their Twitter account.
The Scottish manager admitted that he was an admirer of the Italian, widely recognized as one of the greatest defenders of all time, but his attempt to lure the player away from the San Siro failed because of the player's father, who made it very clear that his son would never leave Milan.
In case you didn't know...
Maldini remained loyal to his hometown and boyhood club AC Milan throughout his career and spent 25 seasons playing for them in the Serie A, claiming the league winner's medal seven times.
He also holds the record for most appearances in the Serie A, which is not surprising at all given that he retired from professional football at an age of 41 years.
His father Cesare Maldini, also played as a defender for Milan and Italy back in the 60s.
Paolo is one of the most decorated defenders of all time and had won everything there is to win with Milan. However, he failed to replicate his success with his national side and never won any major honors with Gli Azzurri.
The heart of the matter...
Sir Alex Ferguson had managed superstars like - Beckham, Ronaldo, Giggs, Van Der Saar and Wayne Rooney in his illustrious career and any player would've loved to play under him at the Old Trafford, but Cesare Maldini made sure that his son Paolo wasn't going to be one of them.
Ferguson recalls that when he personally approached Cesare to inquire about his son, Maldini Sr. rebuffed him and declared that there was no way Paolo would leave Milan, ever.
He said:
“My grandfather is Milan, my father is Milan, I’m Milan and my son is Milan. Forget it”.
And with this stern reply, Cesare shut the door down on what would've been one of the best Premier League signings of the last decade.
What's next?
Maldini returned to his club in August last year as the Sporting Strategy & Development Director.
Milan are just below arch rivals Inter Milan in the Serie A table at fourth and will be aiming to achieve qualification for the Champions League this season.
