Real Madrid president Florentino Perez appears to have ended beyond doubt the speculation suggesting head coach Carlo Ancelotti could take charge of Brazil this summer.
Ancelotti has been heavily linked with the Brazil vacancy ever since Tite resigned following the Selecao’s early exit from the 2022 World Cup in December.
The Brazilian football confederation (CBF) have openly courted Ancelotti, who actually started his coaching career in international football as an assistant with Italy in the early 1990s.
“I’m not saying that Ancelotti has an offer from us, but we are checking if he wants to come. We’ve got a plan A and I will say it for the first time honestly. There is no point in hiding this, Ancelotti is our favourite,” CBF president Ednaldo Rodrigues told beIN SPORTS this month.
Rodrigues had earlier spoken at length about Ancelotti, revealing his enormous admiration for the Italian without explicitly saying that Brazil are targeting him.
“Ancelotti is unanimously respected among players. Not only Ronaldo Nazario or Vinicius Jr but all those that have played for him,” Rodrigues explained.
“I really admire him for his honesty in the way he works and how constant his work is. He needs no introductions. He is really a top coach who has several achievements and we hope he can have even more.
“Ancelotti is not only the players’ favourite but it seems the fans’ too. Everywhere I go in Brazil, in every stadium, he is the first name the supporters ask me about.
“They talk about him in a very affectionate way, in recognition of an exemplary work he has done in his career. Let’s have faith in God, wait for the appropriate time and we’ll see if we can make it happen as we look for the new coach of the Brazilian national team.”
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Ancelotti delivered Real Madrid’s first Copa del Rey trophy in nine years on Saturday night. But Los Blancos are too far behind Barcelona in La Liga to compete for the title and have the much tougher of the two Champions League semi-finals against Manchester City also to come.
But Perez has moved to dismiss any pressure on the four-time Champions League winning boss, and indeed make it all but certain that he won’t be Brazil coach any time soon.
“I don’t want to hear more about it, he has a contract and we are happy,” Perez said.
That contract is until 2024, the end of next season. Ancelotti himself has repeatedly pointed to that contract as a sign of his loyalty to Real, while he recently denied media claims there is a deadline by which he has to let the CBF know if he wants the Brazil job.
“I’ve already said that I’m not talking about my future. But, I’ll answer: the deadline is nonsense. There is no deadline because I never…I haven’t talked to anyone,” he explained this month.
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