Milan director Paolo Maldini commented on the Andriy Shevchenko comparisons with Krzysztof Piatek and “giving the club a sense of solidity.”

The Rossoneri consolidated fourth place with a 3-1 victory away to Atalanta last night, decided by a Piatek brace and Hakan Calhanoglu’s first Serie A goal of the season.

“A lot of people keep comparing Piatek to Andriy Shevchenko, but there’s only one Sheva,” Maldini told Sky Sport Italia.

Milan director Paolo Maldini commented on the Andriy Shevchenko comparisons with Krzysztof Piatek and “giving the club a sense of solidity.”

The Rossoneri consolidated fourth place with a 3-1 victory away to Atalanta last night, decided by a Piatek brace and Hakan Calhanoglu’s first Serie A goal of the season.

“A lot of people keep comparing Piatek to Andriy Shevchenko, but there’s only one Sheva,” Maldini told Sky Sport Italia.

“Besides, Sheva arrived to join an already very strong team and was the extra champion that allowed us to achieve great results.

“Piatek is doing incredible things and joined in a more difficult moment for the club. If he brings us to great heights, then we’ll all be very happy.”

Piatek and Lucas Paquetá were signed in January at a cost of €70m from Genoa and Flamengo respectively, the first big investments from Elliott Management.

“Our objective is to give this club and team a sense of solidity, of having firm foundations, with strong and very young players. It’s a long process, but the team is listening to its Coach and learning from its mistakes.

“These players underestimated themselves at the start, but victories like this help to improve self-esteem.

“Over the last three years, this squad has seen all sorts of things. The club went from Silvio Berlusconi to another Presidency (Yonghong Li) and then this new owner once the summer transfer market was already in full swing.”

Yonghong Li had completed the takeover from Berlusconi funded largely by a loan from US hedge fund Elliott, but when defaulting on the repayments, the club was effectively repossessed.

Rather than sell Milan on, Elliott decided to help develop and grow the brand for at least two to three years.

“We had nonetheless signed the number one available centre-forward on the market in terms of statistics. The ‘marriage’ with Gonzalo Higuain didn’t work out, but these things can happen. Milan remains a wonderful work environment and I don’t see how any player wouldn’t grow here.”

The club also continued to back Coach Gennaro Gattuso even after a dire run of results, culminating in the Europa League group stage exit.

“There has been an evolution for all of us. Rino is someone who listens to our opinions. He might not like them at times, but he listens. We’ve all got the same objective, which is to get Milan to climb as high as possible.”

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