Conceicao keeps up appearances while waiting on Milan – the situation

Sergio Conceicao remains one of the top candidates for the post-Stefano Pioli era at AC Milan and negotiations are ongoing between the parties. However, as a report highlights, the Rossoneri will have to wait a bit for a definitive agreement. 

The 2023-24 season is coming to an end, with three games of little value left for Milan. Porto, on the other hand, are looking to defend third place in the standings and also have a cup final against Sporting Lisbon to play. Gazzetta dello Sport (see photo below) elaborated on this in today’s edition.

Conceicao and the pact with Villas-Boas

The new Porto president Andre Villas-Boas and Conceicao have agreed to focus on the season finale, ‘keeping up appearances’ for what is an important season finale. Both want to finish on a good note, even if the president intends to start a new cycle with a new manager.

Therefore, Conceicao is counting down the days whilst studying his potential version of Milan. There will be no issues on the economic front between the parties, with the manager ready to accept a salary worth €3.5m per season (slightly less than Pioli’s current deal).

The final against Sporting means that Milan and Conceicao will have to wait a little bit longer to enter the advanced stages of the negotiations. At the same time, as highlighted by the pink newspapers, other candidates cannot be ruled out at this stage.

The alternatives for Milan

Conceicao remains the favourite, there’s no doubt about it, but Paulo Fonseca is lurking. He’s also in talks with Marseille but has stalled the developments on that front, knowing that Milan might come knocking in the end.

In addition to the former Roma manager, Roberto De Zerbi is also on Milan’s list and the potential farewell at Brighton could make the move possible. He has the right managerial profile and the Rossoneri are certainly interested, but for now this negotiation seems more complex than the others.

After May 26, the date of Porto’s cup final, more will be known about the negotiations with Conceicao as Milan also intend to announce the new manager the following week.