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AC Milan are reportedly going to replace Gennaro Gattuso at the end of the season with former AS Roma manager Eusebio Di Francesco.
Di Franceso is the club’s first choice to become the next manager and there has been contact as he has been in Milano the last three days, according to today’s edition of Gazzetta dello Sport. pic.twitter.com/Lgl9e0NlHa
— TheMilanBible (@TheMilanBible) May 9, 2019
Various reports indicate that the initial contact between Leonardo and Di Francesco has already taken place, with the manager actually being spotted in Milan on Monday night.
Despite being within three points of a Champions League place with three games to go, many Milan fans feel as if Gattuso’s time in charge of the club should come to an end. Milan had been in the driver’s seat for the fourth and final Champions League spot, but Milan has fallen back of Atalanta after an ugly loss to Torino. Milan were also embarrassed in two Derby della Madonnina defeats to Inter Milan.
Milan were also bounced from the Coppa Italia in the semifinals after losing to Lazio despite beating them only days before in Serie A, and with the final now to be played against Atalanta, many Milan fans felt that Gattuso threw away a chance at a trophy with his tactics in the semifinals.
Di Francesco was sacked as Roma manager earlier this season and replaced by Claudio Ranieri, but the performances haven’t really gotten any better for Roma. And while this season hasn’t gone to plan in Rome, Di Francesco’s Roma team made it all the way to the Champions League semifinal last season, overcoming a deficit to beat Barcelona and losing to Liverpool.
Milan are reportedly not the only team interested in the services of Di Francesco, as it’s also being reported that Sevilla are in the running to land him, as there is already a relationship between Di Francesco and Monchi, who is currently the director of football at the Spanish club, after the two of them worked together at Roma.
Gattuso is still in charge of Milan, at least for now, and it will be interesting to see what happens in the next three games.