Italians plotted against me, cause I benched Maldini —Taribo West

AC Milan’s new signing Taribo West

There was a time ex-Nigerian international, Taribo West was a force to reckon with in defence.

He was mostly known for his stylish hair styles on the field of play, but what many may not know was that he benched famed AC Milan defender; Paulo Maldini upon signing for the Milan club.

In an interview with Brila FM on Tuesday on the segment ‘No Holds Barred’, the ex-Nigeria international opened up on his unsuccessful spell at AC Milan during the height of his professional career.

West went across town in 2000 when he switched to AC Milan from Inter, where he spent two seasons even winning the then UEFA Cup.

It was considered a shock move considering both teams were city rivals and games between both were never without drama.

Taribo West made his debut on March 24 when he came on as a late substitute for Andriy Shevchenko in a 2-0 win over Juventus.

He managed to score his only goal for the club in a 4-0 victory over Udinese in a campaign that did not last beyond one season and 5 appearances at the club.

The 48-year-old alleged that the Italians had plotted to have him kicked out of the red and black side of the Milan club after he had succeeded in benching ‘golden boy’ Paulo Maldini.

“The team was built around Costacurta, Albertini, Ambrozini, and when I went to the club, it was not that any coach influenced my signing, it was Berlusconi himself who brought me, but the man was far. The coach then Zaccheroni, was neutral”, West said.

“He asked me to play in the left-full back, and that was not my normal position. Yet, I played Maldini out the position, so it became a rivalry problem. So Maldini came to meet me at the dressing room and asked if I’ve played in the position before. I told him I’m an utility player and will play in any position. The five matches I played, I won man-of-the-match performance four times.

“And you don’t try that in Italy, because the national team is built around Maldini and then you, a foreigner, come to kick Maldini out of his position in the club”.

The former central defender disclosed that he was brought to the club by then owner, Silvio Berlusconi, revealing that the coach at the time, Alberto Zaccheroni, wasn’t keen on his signing but instead indifferent to him.

The Atlanta 1996 Olympic gold medalist in football said he did not know what was going on until Inter president explained the whole situation to him, and even giving the Nigerian a warning.

Taribo said in quote:

“How did I know that? I went to meet my former president at Inter Milan, we sat and were talking, and he said: ‘Taribo, What you are doing, you are out of your head’. Quote me anywhere, that was what he said. ‘What you are doing, they don’t do it here, they will take you away’. He told me face-to-face.”

According to him, Milan had come up with a cover story that he had a heart problem which would not enable him play football again.

“From there, they came up with a programme that I had a heart problem, I can’t play football again, conspiracy and all that,” the silver-winning player at the 2000 AFCON revealed.