AC Milan appears to be more interested in hiring Portuguese managers, with two names emerging as their top candidates.
Despite having three games remaining, Rossoneri’s season has already ended. They remain in second place but are 18 points behind Inter Milan, the champions. It’s no surprise that management has started looking for a new manager for next season, even though their current manager, Stefano Pioli, still has a year left on his contract. The results in big games this season have been tipped to be the main reason for replacing Pioli, who helped them win their first Serie A title in 2022. Rafael Leao and Co. have even been winless in the past six games in all competitions, including losing to AS Roma in both legs of the Europa League quarterfinal.
A few weeks ago, they already had Julen Lopetegui, the former Sevilla and Wolverhampton manager, as their main target. The negotiation was in place, but they abruptly opted to back out of the deal after concerns from their fans. Interestingly, Milan have not included the high-profile manager Antonio Conte, who is currently available, in their list, despite the former Chelsea, Juventus, and Inter Milan boss’ interest in taking the reins.
Now, they have switched their targets to two Portuguese names, One of them was a former top midfielder during his playing years in the 2000s. The new era under a new boss could hopefully return them to their glory days, like in the 1990s and up to the 2000s, and eventually bring back AC Milan tickets in high demand again next season. Here are those two Milan targets to take the hot seat.
Sergio Conceicao
He was one of Portugal’s top wingers in the late 1990s and 2000s. Conceicao also played in Italian Serie A during his peak years, for three different clubs: Lazio, AC Parma, and Inter Milan, from 1998 to 2004. Thus, he is no stranger to Italian football. He had his best stint with Biancoceleste, as he helped them win six titles, including the league title in 2000, the UEFA Winners’ Cup, and the UEFA Super Cup in 1999.
As a manager, Conceicao slowly but surely becomes recognisable for his leadership and managerial potential. He started off his career in the dugout as an assistant manager at Belgium side Standard Liege in 2010 after previously taking up a technical director role at his last club as a player, Greek Super League team, PAOK.
His first club as head coach was Olhanense in the middle of the 2011–2012 season, but he did not stay long after leading them to finish eighth at the end of the campaign. The former winger, who scored a hattrick against Germany in EURO 2000, then signed for Academica, the relegation struggler in the Portuguese top flight in 2013, but once again left after one season once they sealed an eighth place in the final standings of the 2013–14 season.
Conceicao then switched sides to a more well-known club, Sporting Braga, in 2014. That was when he was able to guide his team to the top-four finish and reach his first final as a manager by leading Braga to the Portuguese Cup final. Unfortunately, they suffered a defeat against Sporting Lisbon on penalties. Such a defeat led to his dismissal in the summer of 2015. Yet he soon found a new club after taking the offer from Vitoria Guimares a few months later. Once again, he parted ways after one season following their missed European competition. Conceicao then headed to France to join Ligue 1 side Nantes in December 2016 with a mission to avoid relegation. He did succeed in guiding them to finish in seventh place on the table in 2017 but left at the end of the campaign due to personal reasons.
The Coimbra-born manager finally landed a top-level job by taking charge of FC Porto in 2017. His silverware began to flow, although none of them is continental. Overall, he has won 10 trophies for Porto, including three league titles and three Portuguese Cups. In the European competition, his team’s best performance was only reaching the quarterfinals twice in UCL 2019 and 2021. The latter was more memorable, as they beat Cristiano Ronaldo’s Juventus in the round of 16.
Paulo Fonseca
Milan’s next target is, as a matter of fact, not so different from Lopetegui. He has not won a single title since he was in charge of the high-profile team. Fonseca had two stints with big sides, FC Porto and AS Roma, but his teams went trophyless. The former centre-back during his playing years was only able to guide Porto to finish third in 2014 and Giallorossi to sit fifth and seventh consecutively in 2020 and 2021.
His tenure with the mid-table teams has been more memorable. In his first top-flight team, Fonseca managed to lead the minnow Pacos de Ferreira FC to finish third in 2013, which earned their first and only Champions League qualifier spot in the club’s history.
Next, at Sporting Braga, the Mozambique-born manager was able to deliver the first domestic trophy in 50 years after beating Porto on penalties in the 2015/16 Portuguese Cup final. He also helped them finish fourth in the domestic top flight and advance to the round of eight in the Europa League in the same season, where they lost to his future club, Shakhtar Donetsk. It was in Ukraine that he finally enjoyed a trophy-laden stint. He clinched seven titles for them, including three league titles.
The 51-year-old boss is currently at the helm of Lille. Previously, he was linked to a Premier League move with Newcastle and Aston Villa. Yet, the move did not materialise. Fonseca has done fairly well with Lille, as he helped them finish fifth last season. In the current campaign, Lille is sitting fourth and still fighting for the last spot in UEFA’s top-tier competition, with Stade Brestois and Nice as their contenders. They have collected 55 points, with two points behind Brest on the third and two games remaining.
