{"id":293772,"date":"2023-11-12T00:27:53","date_gmt":"2023-11-12T00:27:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportsloveme.com\/?p=293772"},"modified":"2023-11-12T00:27:53","modified_gmt":"2023-11-12T00:27:53","slug":"paolo-maldini-main-candidate-to-become-al-ittihad-director","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportsloveme.com\/soccer\/paolo-maldini-main-candidate-to-become-al-ittihad-director\/","title":{"rendered":"Paolo Maldini &apos;main candidate&apos; to become Al-Ittihad director"},"content":{"rendered":"<h1>Paolo Maldini is the &#8216;main candidate&#8217; to become Al-Ittihad director with move to the Saudi Pro League a &#8216;serious possibility&#8217; for the AC Milan legend as he plots his next career move<\/h1>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Paolo Maldini is in line to take up the role of director at Saudi side Al-Ittihad<\/strong><span>\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span>The legendary defender left role as technical director at AC Milan in June<\/span><\/li>\n<li><strong>What is the WORST Premier League hat-trick? &#8211; Find out on It&#8217;s All Coming Up\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Paolo Maldini could be set for a return to football, with reports suggesting the five-time Champions League winner is being lined up to take over as a director at Al-Ittihad.<\/p>\n<p>Maldini, who turned out solely for AC Milan throughout a remarkable 25-year playing career, left the Serie A giants in June after serving four seasons as technical director.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>His work behind the scenes helped Milan win their first league title since 2011 in the 2021-22 season.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>However, Maldini was held responsible for a series of underwhelming signings, former Liverpool man Divock Origi among them, that saw Stefano Pioli&#8217;s side barely able to scrape a fourth-place finish last term.<\/p>\n<p>The 126-cap Italian international could now make his return to football, with Al-Ittihad interested in his services.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/11\/10\/21\/77666983-12736107-Paolo_Maldini_is_the_main_candidate_to_take_on_the_role_of_direc-a-106_1699652759958.jpg\" height=\"446\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Paolo Maldini is the &#8216;main candidate&#8217; to take on the role of director at Saudi Pro League side Al-Ittihad<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/11\/10\/21\/77667033-12736107-Maldini_won_five_Champions_League_titles_throughout_a_glittering-a-107_1699652759987.jpg\" height=\"425\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Maldini won five Champions League titles throughout a glittering 25-year playing career with AC Milan<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/11\/10\/21\/77667071-12736107-Before_taking_on_the_role_of_technical_director_in_2019_and_help-a-108_1699652760054.jpg\" height=\"425\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>He took on the role of technical director in 2019 and helped the Serie A giants win their first league title since 2011<\/p>\n<p>Your browser does not support iframes.<\/p>\n<p>Fabrizio Romano posted on X (formerly Twitter): &#8216;Paolo Maldini, main candidate to become new Al-Ittihad director with new chapter in Saudi Pro League.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;Former AC Milan director, set to decide his future soon with Al-Ittihad serious possibility being considered.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>Maldini could be set for a busy first few weeks in the job, with Al-Ittihad in the market for a new manager after former Spurs boss Nuno Espirito Santo was sacked following an alleged bust-up with star striker Karim Benzema.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/11\/10\/21\/77529561-12736107-Former_Tottenham_manager_Nuno_Espirito_Santo_has_been_sacked_by_-a-109_1699652760065.jpg\" height=\"497\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Former Tottenham manager Nuno Espirito Santo was sacked this week by Al-Ittihad after a torrid run of form<\/p>\n<p>Al-Ittihad, who also signed former Chelsea midfielder N&#8217;Golo Kante and ex-Liverpool man Fabinho in the summer, are currently sat fifth in the Saudi Pro League table after a poor run of form.<\/p>\n<p>Benzema and Nuno reportedly clashed after elimination from the AFC Asian Champions League at the hands of Iraqi club Al-Quwa Al-Juwiy.<\/p>\n<p>A run of five domestic league games without a win has also left Al-Ittihad off the pace in the race for the league title, with league leaders Al-Hilal currently 11 points clear of them.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Benzema scored a hat-trick to help them to a 4-2 win against Abha on Friday, but Maldini will still have work to do to improve their fortunes if his appointment goes ahead as expected.<\/p>\n<h3>IT&#8217;S ALL KICKING OFF!\u00a0<\/h3>\n<p><span><span>It&#8217;s All Kicking Off is an exciting new podcast from Mail Sport that promises a different take on Premier League football.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span><span>It is available on MailOnline, Mail+, YouTube, Apple Music and Spotify.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p>Your browser does not support iframes.<\/p>\n<p>Source: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/sport\/football\/article-12736107\/Paolo-Maldini-Al-Ittihad-director-Saudi-Pro-League-AC-Milan.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Read Full Article<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Paolo Maldini is the &#8216;main candidate&#8217; to become Al-Ittihad director with move to the Saudi Pro League a &#8216;serious possibility&#8217;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":293771,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Paolo Maldini &amp;apos;main candidate&amp;apos; to become Al-Ittihad director - Sports Love Me<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sportsloveme.com\/soccer\/paolo-maldini-main-candidate-to-become-al-ittihad-director\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Paolo Maldini &amp;apos;main candidate&amp;apos; to become Al-Ittihad director - Sports Love Me\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Paolo Maldini is the &#8216;main candidate&#8217; 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