One of Ruben Amorim’s first PR calls at AC Milan may backfire.
The Portuguese coach was infamously awful at off-pitch calls at Manchester United and has been dealt a tricky one by two of his biggest players.
Corriere dello Sport claim that France World Cup duo Mike Maignan and Adrien Rabiot asked for their holidays to be extended until August 16th.
The pair were initially due back on August 12th, but Amorim has granted the request.
The outlet adds: “From a contractual standpoint, their decision is legitimate, since they only finished their World Cup campaign on July 18.
“But from an image and perception standpoint, it raises quite a few questions, both because of Milan’s previous season and because of the timing, with the league about to begin and neither player having completed a single training session under the new coach.”
Why Rabiot and Maignan’s actions have gone down so badly
Milan’s season starts just over a week after the players’ return date on August 23rd, making the call all the more questionable.
And to make matters even worse, countryman Marcus Thuram returned to arch rivals Inter Milan on August 9th, as did Lautaro Martinez, who was in the final with Argentina.
That’s not all, though, Maignan is already in trouble with fans and as such his call will have gone down even worse.
The goalkeeper is team captain, and didn’t cut his holiday short to attend the funeral of club legend Franco Baresi, leading to fury online.
Only Christian Pulisic and Santiago Giménez attended the service, making many supporters question the commitment and professionalism of the squad.
Rabiot, meanwhile, has caused more questions during a troubled career, even suggesting this late return was on the cards after France’s third-place World Cup loss to England.
“First, the holidays, obviously,” he said. “We’ve been waiting for this since we lost to Spain.
“Then, it was a very difficult few days from a mental point of view; it was hard to maintain concentration to play this match.
“A well-deserved holiday, we need to rest well and then we’ll be back, hopefully as late as possible.”
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