Carlo Ancelotti will coach AC Milan, says Silvio Berlusconi

Posted Saturday, May 30, 2015 by ESPN

Carlo Ancelotti won European Cups as a coach and player with AC Milan.

AC Milan chairman Silvio Berlusconi says Carlo Ancelotti is the only candidate to be the next coach at the club, and has hinted the former Real Madrid boss' arrival is a forgone conclusion.

Berlusconi's side has suffered through a disappointing campaign, which has seen the Rossoneri slump to 10th in the Serie A table under Filippo Inzaghi.

But the former Italian prime minister believes Ancelotti, a European Cup winner as a player and coach with Milan, is the only man to turn fortunes around.

"Alternatives? I don't want to consider alternatives to Ancelotti," Berlusconi told Mediaset, which he owns. "We'll talk about these things later, if Ancelotti doesn't come. But since he will come, there is no need to even have these conversations."

Despite Ancelotti's insistence that he wants to take a year off, Milan joint-CEO Adriano Galliani travelled to Spain last week to convince the a San Siro return -- a homecoming that would please Berlusconi and Milan's fans.

"I hope there's a big chance Ancelotti will become the next Milan coach," Berlusconi said. "Going around for my election campaign, all the Milan fans have advised me to bring Ancelotti back. I've listened, and found a solution, with the same desire to win.

"He's a winner, he's won everywhere he's coached. Now he'll have a minor operation and will take his decision, which is also down to his family.

"I hope it's a positive decision for Milan, because he's very much wanted at Milan."

Galliani said on Thursday that he felt there was a "50-50" chance Ancelotti would return this season.

In addition to Ancelotti, the Milan chief expressed his desire to bring back former star striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic, whom the club sold to Paris Saint-Germain in the summer of 2012.

"I'm fixated on his return, although it's a very difficult thing to make happen, and it will take patience," Berlusconi said. "But he's magnificent on the pitch."

Ibrahimovic, who exited along with former Milan defender Thiago Silva that summer, has been a key player for the ambitious Parisians since his arrival at the French capital.