It has been a difficult season for Serie A side and Italian giants AC Milan, and following their 1-1 draw with AS Roma at the weekend, their board has decided that time is up for manager Paulo Fonseca despite the 51 year old only actually being in charge for six months.
From a strictly results perspective, his record in fairness was not bad as he picked up 12 wins and six draws from a total of 24 matches across all competitions. That clearly was not enough for the Rossoneri given their current form has only delivered two wins in their last seven, and they now have a 14 point deficit to league leaders Atalanta, so he leaves the side sat in eighth place in the Italian top flight table.
A short time after his departure was confirmed the club announced that former Porto boss Sergio Conceicao had been appointed as his replacement for the second half of the 2024/25 campaign and he arrives at the San Siro in optimistic mood, already stating that his target for the remainder of 2025 is to secure a Champions League spot.
Their form and consistency levels will obviously need to dramatically improve for that to happen as they are eight points off the top four and the qualification positions in the division at this moment in time, but they do have a game in hand on fourth placed Lazio and if they take full advantage of that, a five point gap is certainly not insurmountable given the games that they are yet to play.
Conceicao could have an easier start to life in their dug out as one of his first tasks will be to join the team on their trip to Saudi Arabia for the Riyadh based Italian Super Cup semi final clash with Juventus, but what he potentially loses in training pitch time with his inherited squad he will more than gain from, if he takes full advantage of the squad being isolated together and away from distractions whilst they have their spell out of the country.
Whether or not the 50 year old former Portuguese international wingers aims and aspirations for the rest of the year prove to be too high of a target for them to actually reach, their fans will undoubtedly appreciate the lofty expectation being so clearly stated and given such an inconsistent start to the campaign, just getting close to the stated aim should be considered an achievement that would potentially set him up nicely for a full year in charge.
