Milan fired Paulo Fonseca, releasing an unsentimentally brief statement on Monday to end their head coach’s six-month reign, before announcing his successor just hours later.
Milan drew 1-1 with Roma on Sunday night to leave them eighth in Serie A – a whacking 14 points off Atalanta in top spot – and eight off the Champions League spots.
That proved the last straw for US investment group RedBird Capital, who bought the club in August, and they cut ties with their Portuguese manager first thing the next morning.
The entirety of the club’s 32-word statement read: ‘AC Milan announces that Paulo Fonseca has been relieved from his duties as Head Coach of the Men’s First Team.
‘The club extends its gratitude to Paulo for his great professionalism and wishes him the very best in his future endeavours.’
And, in the same expeditious spirit, they have wasted no time in replacing Fonseca by bringing in another Portuguese to take over the reins.
Paulo Fonseca’s reign as Milan manager has ended after just six months in charge of the club
Milan’s players trudge off after a 1-1 draw with Roma on Sunday consigned their boss to his fate
Former Porto boss Sergio Conceicao has been announced as the new manager of Milan
Sergio Conceicao has been announced as the new Milan manager on a two-and-a-half year deal.
The former Porto coach has been without a job since he left the Portuguese side over the summer.
The 50-year-old’s seven years in charge of Porto saw him win 11 trophies, including three league titles.
Conceicao had been linked with a number of jobs – including the post at West Ham before Julen Lopetegui saved his job with a victory against Wolves on December 9.
And Milan acted quickly to swoop in and seal a deal for Conceicao with a big clash against Juventus in the Italian Super Cup semi-finals on January 3 fast approaching.
In their second bombshell statement on Monday, the club said: ‘AC Milan announces that Sergio Conceicao has been appointed as the Head Coach of the men’s First Team until 30 June 2026.
‘The club extends a warm welcome to Sergio and his staff, wishing a journey full of success and fulfillment.’
Conceicao will be familiar with the league having played in Serie A with Lazio, Parma and Inter Milan.
Milan also have plenty of work to do in Europe as they currently sit 12th in the Champions League league phase table in the knockout play-offs spots.