AC Milan chief plays straight bat to Pellegrini job links

Oli Fisher
Manuel Pellegrini: Considering options for next season, Milan an option

Manuel Pellegrini: Considering options for next season, Milan an option

AC Milan have played down reports outgoing Manchester City boss Manuel Pellegrini has been lined up to take over at the San Siro this summer.

The Chilean is departing the club at the end of the season to make way for Pep Guardiola, and has recently been linked with a range of jobs.

Sportsmail reported that former club Valencia were lining up the 62-year-old as the lead candidate to succeed Gary Neville, who was sacked in March, with Pako Ayestaran place in charge on an interim basis. He has also been mentioned as a possible successor to Roberto Martinez at Everton.

Now, Italian giants AC Milan appear to have expressed interest in capturing Pellegrini, who has a 63% win ratio in his 112 Premier League matches in charge of City.

Italian outlet Calciomercato also reported that Sampdoria manager Vincenzo Montella is a possible candidate for the club, even though he has almost taken Sampdoria to Serie B after they finished seventh last season.

The club sacked manager Sinisa Mihajlovic after less than a season in charge with the team in sixth position after heavy summer investment, despite reaching the Coppa Italia final and being on course for the Europa League qualification stage.

Current manager Cristian Brocchi has struggled hugely since taking over, following up a scrappy debut win over relegation-threatened Sampdoria with a defeat at rock-bottom Hellas Verona and draws against Carpi (17th) and Frosinone (19th).

Ahead of their most recent game, the 3-3 draw with Frosinone, Milan chief executive Adriano Galliani spoke to Mediaset to deny claims Pellegrini was a contender for the job.

“At the moment we are not thinking about Manuel Pellegrini as our next manager,” he said.

“Let’s see how Brocchi will end this campaign, I hope everything will go the right direction. I’ve watched two trainings and I think they were both pretty good.

“Things are working during the week, trouble is they also need to work during weekends. We are the last club to win the Serie A title before Juventus.”

Galliani also declined to comment on rumours the club is set for a €700million takeover by Alibaba owner Jack Ma, with Silvio Berlusconi reportedly becoming increasingly willing to sell.