Serie A

Ancelotti may leave this summer, says Berlusconi

AC Milan president and Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi admitted on Wednesday that coach Carlo Ancelotti’s future would be decided at the end of the season.

Ancelotti’s future has been the subject of much debate over the course of the season as the 49-year-old has been linked with moves to both Real Madrid and Chelsea, while he himself admitted to learning English.

The coach has always maintained that he wants to stay at Milan while the club’s vice-president Adriano Galliani has repeatedly said Ancelotti is contracted until the end of next season.

But Berlusconi told Sky Sport24 that Ancelotti could leave in the summer.

“My friendship with Carlo is beyond discussion but so too are the facts. I like him a lot and I’m sure the feeling is mutual,” said the PM. “Galliani is committed to sitting down with him at the end of the season to see if we will continue together or apart, regardless of results. We will decide together what is best for Milan. But I assure you that we have not discussed the name of an eventual successor. Until Ancelotti is no longer our coach there won’t be a discussion.”

Milan have not won the Serie A title since 2004 and just a month ago looked to be well out of the running for this season’s scudetto.

They trailed leaders and bitter city rivals Inter Milan by 14 points back then but Jose Mourinho’s team have suffered a recent blip and the gap has been cut to just seven points, sparking a glimmer of hope for Milan.

“The title? It’s always legal to dream, in fact life is made up of dreams,” added Berlusconi. “For us it would be enough to finish second in a season beset by misfortune. “But if Inter do slip up, and I don’t believe that they will, we will try not to so we can finish strongly.”