SERIE A: CARLO ANCELOTTI seems determined to keep us guessing, right to the last. Media speculation in both Italy and England has raged hot and heavy that AC Milan coach Ancelotti will be the man to take over from Guus Hiddink as manager at Chelsea FC.
Ancelotti has said he will pronounce definitively just as soon as the Italian season ends. So when he appeared on TV yesterday afternoon, minutes after Milan had beaten Fiorentina 2-0 on yesterday’s last day of the Serie A season to secure a third-place finish, the notebooks were poised.
However, Ancelotti made only a half-announcement. Yes, I am leaving Milan. No, I am not telling you where I am going. As he watched images of Chelsea’s FA Cup final win on Saturday, Ancelotti was asked if he thought he might be able to pull off a cup win for the London club: “Who said I was going to England?” he retorted.
And so the guessing game continues, at least for a few more days. However, in the meantime heavy hints have been dropped. For example, on Sunday night one week ago, David Williams, Manchester United’s Italian-based Welsh scout, ran into Ancelotti at Parma airport. “Are you going to the Champions League final,” asked Williams. “No,” answered Ancelotti, “I am off to Rome for a book launch,” adding however: “After that, though, I might be off on my travels towards where you come from.”
An even more telling indication came on Saturday from Chelsea players Michael Ballack and Nicholas Annelka, who during the celebrations for the FA Cup win both suggested Ancelotti would be the man in charge at Stamford Bridge next season.
If it is only a matter of time before Ancelotti’s move to Chelsea becomes official, how will he get on in the Premiership? It would be a bold prediction to suggest the 59-year old (he will be 60 this month) will touch the heights scaled by Hiddink and José Mourinho. One thing for sure, though, he will get on with his players.
The 26-times capped Ancelotti, a former AS Roma and AC Milan player, has never belonged to the “sergeant-major” school of coaches, preferring to trust his most experienced players. When asked which player he would like to take with him from Milan, his answer was 40-year-old Paolo Maldini, who yesterday played the last game in his remarkable 24-year professional career.
He once told this reporter in relation to Milan’s brilliant Brazilian Kaka: “Before a match, I never tell Kaka where to play. He handles the situations himself, he decides whether to move forward or back 10 metres. He follows his instinct and that is just fine by me.”
