Game must not let go of golden oldies
Paolo Maldini is one of them.
When he finally stopped playing, at the age of 41, it seemed inevitable he would continue in the game: seven Italian titles and five Champions Leagues is experience money just can’t buy.
The most accomplished defender of his generation, maybe of all-time, Maldini surely would be passing on all his wisdom, if not at Milan then somewhere else, or even on TV.
Three-and-a-half years later he’s running a property business. He’s spoken to his former boss Silvio Berlusconi just once. The last time he met Milan manager Massimo Allegri was over a year ago.
“How do I know if I’ve done something wrong tactically or in the management of the dressing room?”, asked Allegri.
“He needed someone who had the personality to talk with the major players,” Maldini says.
There was a suggestion he might come in and help “manage the group.”
He’s heard nothing since.
Partly this is down to Maldini himself.
He’s a very reserved man. He doesn’t want to get involved in football politics and he doesn’t want to be a coach: “I saw my father when he was a coach and the nomadic life he led. That’s not for me.”
Maldini’s main feeling is regret his club has lost its way.
“We created something truly magical thanks to the personality of those who were already there and those who had joined us.
“Then little by little the magic was lost and Milan went from being a magical team to just another team.
“You know why? At other big European clubs with a similar past, like Real, Barcelona and Bayern Munich, people who wrote the history of the team went back to work there.
“Look at the history of Bayern and Real and the roles Beckenbauer, Hoeness, Rummengge, Butragueno, Gallego and Valdano played.
When new people arrive, this guidance and this magic is passed on through those who have been there so long.”
As the transfer window opens it’s an argument with relevance to other clubs. Whatever Alan Hansen says, you can win things with kids. However it helps if there are old hands alongside them.
Alex Ferguson is famous for his lack of sentimentality, for “knowing when to get rid of players,” but he’s kept Paul Scholes and Ryan Giggs way beyond the normal life expectancy of Premier League players.
Frank Lampard’s future is in doubt: he’s 35 in June. But he could still have a major contribution to make both as player and as a mentor to the next generation.
Phil Neville — 36 this month — is still playing a significant role at Everton seven years after leaving Old Trafford.
One question is how long such players can justify a position in the squad. Another is their role in the club.
Jamie Carragher at Liverpool is more than just a player: he represents a tradition in just the way Maldini describes. The value of his experience is incalculable — unlike the price.
The price is high. Players such as Lampard or the daddy of them all, Javier Zanetti at Inter, are on huge salaries, simply because they’ve been so successful over such a long period.
Zanetti is 40 in August and his salary has come down, but he’s still on just under €3 million a year — after tax.
The new financial rules are making it hard for even the richest clubs to pay this sort of money for experience when there are younger players coming through. Older players have little or no transfer value.
They can block the progress of younger team mates unless there is a coaching position they can move into.
All the same, Barcelona have just agreed new four-year contracts for Xavi and Carles Puyol. Xavi will be 37 by the time his deal runs out, Puyol almost 39. As the advert says: because they’re worth it.
