Massimiliano Allegri To Leave Juventus At End Of Season

Massimiliano Allegri is to leave his post as Juventus manager at the end of the season after five years with the Italian champions.

A statement posted on the club website on Friday morning said: “Massimiliano Allegri will not be on the Juventus bench for the 2019-2020 season.

Ten big games to watch this weekend in the European leagues

“The coach and the president, Andrea Agnelli, will meet the media together at tomorrow’s press conference – Saturday 18 May, at 2pm in the press conference hall of Allianz Stadium.”

Juventus wrapped up this season’s title four weeks ago, and have two matches remaining in 2018-19, at home to Atalanta on Sunday and at Sampdoria a week later. However, this season was still seen as a disappointment as the signing of five-times Ballon d’Or winner Cristiano Ronaldo failed to prevent Juventus being knocked out of the Champions League in the quarter-finals by Ajax.

Allegri arrived in 2014 after four years at Milan and led Juve to five consecutive Serie A titles, securing the league and cup double in his first four seasons. They reached the Champions League final in 2015 and 2017, losing to Barcelona and Real Madrid respectively.

Allegri, who spent much of his playing career as a midfielder in Serie B, arrived at Juventus six months after being sacked by Milan, whom he had led to the Serie A title at the first attempt in 2011 after earning coaching plaudits at Cagliari.

He was initially greeted with hostility at Juve; supporters hurled eggs at his car as he arrived for his first training session. But he quickly won over fans as the club continued their dominance of Serie A.

The Manchester City manager, Pep Guardiola, was quick to distance himself from the Juventus job. “I will not be going to Italy, how many times do I need to say it?” he asked reporters at his press conference to preview the FA Cup final on Friday. “I’m staying here for two more seasons, as long as City still want me. I’m satisfied working here and I’m not going anywhere. Like I keep saying, I am manager of Manchester City.”

That leaves the former Juventus coach Antonio Conte as the frontrunner for the soon-to-be vacant position. Conte led Juventus to the first three of their current run of eight consecutive Serie A titles. Conte left to coach Italy through the 2016 European Championship and then won the Premier League in his first season as Chelsea manager, in 2016-17. However, he was sacked before the 2018-19 season got under way and has been out of work ever since.

Conte said recently he wants to coach again in the 2019-20 season but without specifying where.