Michele Criscitiello, CEO of Italian media outlet Sportitalia, publicly criticized Paolo Maldini for his repeated blunders in personnel operations at the Italian Football Federation, bluntly calling his actions "outrageous."

Michele Criscitiello stated in a column written for Sportitalia that Maldini did everything he shouldn't have in 10 days. In his opinion, the Italian Football Federation was "in chaos" at the time and should have responded differently to the pre-World Cup turmoil, but Maldini made mistake after mistake.

Criscitiello wrote: "Do you know how happy Gravina is laughing now? Maldini said at a press conference: 'We contacted Ancelotti.' But you can't do that! He has a contract with another football association, and you will be suspended. Not only did he do it, but he also told the media about it. It's unbelievable."

He also stated that Maldini claimed to have met with Guardiola, hoping to complete a "big signing," but Guardiola refused, demanding 20 million euros per season. Criscitiello believes this was an "astonishing communication error." In his view, if Guardiola had already been contacted and the news leaked, the only way was to finalize the deal, otherwise, anyone replacing Guardiola would be seen as a failure.

Criscitiello went on to write that Maldini had also said, "We will bring in top people," but ultimately brought in a "coach who was coaching in the Dubai Second Division just two months ago." He questioned whether everything could be allowed simply because the other party was a distinguished figure in Italian football like Maldini and Pirlo.

At the end of the article, he called for an end to the obsession with names and banners. He stated that players are remembered for their on-field performance, but that doesn't mean they are equally good as coaches or sitting in an office. Criscitiello also mentioned that signing Pirlo first, only to be reminded of clear league regulation conflicts, was a low-level mistake that should not have occurred under the new management of the Italian Football Federation.

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