The former Milan great Paolo Maldini believes the struggling Serie A giants are destroying the progress made by the club over the last decade following an indifferent season at home and in Europe.

Clarence Seedorf's side are currently 11th in the standings after losing 4-2 at home to Parma on Sunday, leaving them 12 points off fifth spot and qualification for next season's Europa League with just 10 matches to play. Milan were also thrashed 5-1 on aggregate by Atlético Madrid in the last 16 of the Champions League.

Yet despite rumours that the former Holland international Seedorf could be sacked despite moving to San Siro in January, Maldini – who spent 24 years at the club, winning six Scudetti and five European Cups – believes it is those who are running the club who should take the blame.

"Inside of me there's a mixture of anger and disappointment," he told La Gazzetta dello Sport. "Not so much because of the results, but because I get the impression they're throwing away what was built with hard work over the last 10 years. That makes me feel awful. I know how much work there was behind all those glories, what it took to build such a beatufiul story. It makes me crazy to see everything destroyed.

"They cannot compete with Juventus or the top 10 teams in Europe. There isn't a project."

He added: "It's obvious that he's not an expert, but he has a lot of courage and personality, but not even Pep Guardiola could do anything. This isn't Clarence's fault. [Pippo] Inzaghi spent two years with the youth team and this is important."

Now 45, Maldini recently held talks with the owner Silvio Berlusconi's daughter Barbara – who is now sharing chief executive duties with Adriano Galliani – about a return to the club in an official capacity. However, the 126-cap former defender revealed he has yet to hear back.

"I had two interviews with Barbara. After the division of responsibilities, I have been touted as the successor to Galliani's sporting duties, but I have not heard from anyone," he said.

"I was ready for a role in sports. Milan have many employees but are missing someone from a sporting perspective. Galliani is a great leader, but can't understand players. He does everything himself and this is not possible. If you only sign the players of one Fifa agent, sometimes you can make the deal, sometimes you can't.

"At the bottom of it, there must be knowledge. [The former director Ariedo] Braida played a marginal role in recent years, before there was Leonardo, who helped Galliani understand whether a player was suitable to Milan or not.

"I remember when Leo wanted me at all costs to become sports director, Galliani said: 'We don't need him.'"