For just under 10 years, Ivan Gazidis was the chief executive at Arsenal, succeeding Keith Edelman until his departure in 2018 for Milan.
The South African was never the most popular figure at the Emirates, and certainly didn’t gain himself any bonus points by appointing Unai Emery to succeed Arsène Wenger, since the Spaniard is now out of a job and has been replaced by Mikel Arteta.
Swapping London for Italy, Gazidis immediately went about changing the way things were done at San Siro, focusing more and more on young talent rather than the experienced approach the club had been unsuccessfully using.
Under his supervision, the club finished fifth last season, which was their best league finish in six years, but it still led to a manager change as Gennaro Gattuso wasn’t kept on, as well as more upheaval behind the scenes.
After Leonardo stepped down as technical director, Paolo Maldini and Zvonimir Boban were brought in to take over his duties.
All this change, with Stefano Pioli now in charge after Marco Giampaolo lasted just seven games, hasn’t helped their league situation, and Milan now sit seventh in the league, three points behind Napoli but with a game in hand.
This situation has led to more talk about more change yet again, and the idea of bringing in Ralf Rangnick in an Arsène Wenger role has been touted by the Italian media.
This all came from Gazidis’ end, and it didn’t sit well with both Maldini and Boban, with the latter criticising the South African in a Gazzetta dello Sport interview, causing a deep fracture in the leadership.
There is now talk that Boban could be sacked, which could also see Maldini exit, and this hasn’t gone down well at all with Christian Vieri, who was speaking to Tiki Taka on Mediaset.
Relayed by Calciomercato, he said: “Boban has done well. Gazidis went to speak with [Rangnick] when he has nothing to do with it. But who is Gazidis? What does he do? Boban and Maldini are in that role. Should Boban have shut up?
“In life, you have to be men and have balls, and Boban has them. Maldini called Boban to work together, they are very close friends. Boban hasn’t been sacked: what happened was that one was a coward and the other isn’t a puppet. He’s got a personality and says stuff to your face. Why doesn’t Gazidis return to Arsenal?”
Don’t, Christian. Arsenal fans won’t like the thought of that. At all.
