Sky journalist Peppe Di Stefano has claimed that AC Milan have made their choice: they would like to make Porto boss Sergio Conceicao their next head coach.
There has been a lot of noise about the candidates to take over from Stefano Pioli at the end of the season, and it seemed like Julen Lopetegui was the man that was lined up until a fan protest forced some reflections.
According to the latest from Fabrizio Romano, Lopetegui has agreed terms with West Ham to become new head coach replacing David Moyes from next season, so he can be crossed off the list.
Instead, a lot of the stories over the past few days have been about Conceicao, who renewed his deal with Porto recently but under the assumption Pinto da Costa would be remaining as president.
Andre Villas Boas got voted in which has led to speculation that Conceicao could look to depart in favour of a new challenge, and Di Stefano gave the latest update on Sky (via MilanNews).
“The head coach role at Milan Milan will not be entrusted to Stefano Pioli next season. There will be a new future for him and a new coach for Milan,” he said.
“We talked about Conceiçao. More and more him, yes, but we must first find an agreement from a from a planning point of view rather than from a financial point of view.
“The Portuguese coach, who will turn 50 next November, has been coaching at Porto for seven seasons. He has come in first place three times, second place three times, he won 10 trophies including league titles, cups and super cups in Portugal.
“Now he is probably called to the even more important task, that of leaving Portugal, leaving home, and returning to the other home, which is Italy of him and Milan would like to try to sign him.
“The alternative, if the negotiation with Conceiçao doesn’t go well, could be Fonseca. Another Portuguese, who is linked to Lille, a club which is linked to Elliott Management and which therefore Milan knows well, especially from the point of view of operational dynamics.
“He is a coach who plays with the same formation – the 4-2-3-1 – as Pioli and Conceiçao. So Milan would change little from this point of view. However, it will certainly be a summer that will bring a top-level striker to Milan.”
We always end up with alternatives and I won’t be surprised if it continues with an alternative coach.
I wouldn’t mind Sarri as an alternative, in all respects of the word. At least he knows how to play decent soccer. I could live with his tracksuit habits, provided the team performs…