Daniel Maldini’s autumn at Cagliari has begun to read like a turning point rather than another temporary stop. On Saturday in Udine, after a week that had tested his composure away from the pitch, the 24-year-old seized on a defensive mistake to settle the match and give the Sardinian club a fourth victory from five league games.
The coach and the club
Cagliari’s faith in Maldini was established well before his recent scoring run. President Tommaso Giulini identified him early as a player who could rebuild his career in Sardinia, discussing the move with Daniel’s father, Paolo Maldini, and concluding that Cagliari offered the right setting.
It was a bold call given a career that had often been interrupted by changes of club and role. Yet Fabio Pisacane has made confidence the starting point of his work with the forward. Having developed players through youth football before moving into senior management, the coach treated Maldini as a leading talent from the outset and sought to strengthen his belief in his own game.
Maldini himself had admitted at his presentation that consistency was the weakness he needed to overcome. There were quiet early performances, moments when he appeared detached from Cagliari’s play, but he has responded in the decisive manner expected of an attacking player.
- He headed the winner against Lecce.
- He converted a penalty in the victory away to former club Atalanta, despite whistles from the Pisani end in Bergamo.
- He then punished Udinese’s error on Saturday, completing three consecutive scoring matches and delivering nine points for Cagliari.
The goal at the Dacia Arena came from an improbable sequence involving Udinese starters Miller, Kabasele and Ebosse. Maldini anticipated the loose ball and finished the move, but his contribution was not limited to the goal: he made seven recoveries in a match Cagliari had to endure for long spells.
He later directed much of the credit towards goalkeeper Elia Caprile, known within the group as “Batman”, but Maldini has become the face of Cagliari’s early-season rise. The club are fourth on 12 points, only one behind Roma, Inter and Lazio.
A career still searching for continuity
Maldini’s path has rarely allowed him a full campaign in one place. At Spezia in 2023, under Luca Gotti and then Leonardo Semplici, he made 18 appearances and scored twice. A six-month spell at Empoli followed, without the attacker finding a natural place in the side.
After his first steps at Milan, the club he supported as a boy, he moved through another six Serie A teams. Last season ended at Lazio under Maurizio Sarri, who soon afterwards took charge of Atalanta. The Bergamo club acquired Maldini from Monza and Milan for around €14 million, but Sarri did not make him central to his plans, having previously tried to use him as a centre-forward in Rome.
That opened the door for Giulini. Cagliari’s president has developed a regular working relationship with the Percassi family since 2021, completing around ten deals. The most recent was Gianluca Gaetano’s move to Atalanta for approximately €12 million.
Maldini is now one goal away from matching his best Serie A scoring return for Monza, when he struck four times in 11 appearances between January and June 2024 under Raffaele Palladino.
A difficult week, and a response in Udine
The match in Udine followed a difficult period off the field. Final results are expected shortly from examinations carried out after Maldini returned a positive result in a preliminary drugs screening. The tests followed a car accident in Milan after the Atalanta match and a night out at a Corso Como venue, when he was driving his Porsche.
His driving licence was withdrawn and he was reported for drink-driving after testing positive in an alcohol check. Maldini told coaches and staff that he had taken no substances and had only drunk two gin and tonics at the club.
He turns 25 on 11 October. The episode has placed his career under scrutiny at precisely the moment Cagliari have begun to benefit from his talent. Maldini was not included in Roberto Mancini’s squad, although his week begins at Coverciano, where the national-team environment has also been part of his attempt to relaunch himself.
For now, Cagliari have chosen to judge him through the work on the pitch. In Udine, amid pressure, uncertainty and a costly Udinese lapse, Maldini found the moment that mattered. Sardinia has responded to it with enthusiasm, and the season has given him a chance to make this chapter last.
