OFFICIAL: AC Milan sack Paulo Fonseca

AC Milan have officially sacked head coach Paulo Fonseca following their 1-1 draw with Roma on Sunday.

The Portuguese coach has been relief of his duties at San Siro by an increasingly beleaguered leadership after just six months in charge.

The official statement posted to the AC Milan website reads:

"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."

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Fonseca has been an unpopular coach throughout much of his time as head coach in Milan despite posting a fairly respectable 50% win rate.

While head coach of Milan, Fonseca took charge of exactly 24 games across all competitions, winning 12, drawing 6 and losing 6.

However too few of those wins were in Serie A, while nearly all of the draws and defeats were, meaning Milan are currently 8th in the table.

Despite being rivals Inter in the Derbi della Madonnina, with 27 points Milan sit a massive 14 points behind league leaders Atalanta and are even 8 points behind 4th place Lazio.

Things are better in the Champions League where he has them sat in 12th place in the League Phase, with a great chance to end things in the top 8 to guarantee automatic qualification to the Round of 16. And of course Milan demolished Real Madrid at the Santiago Bernabeu in November, too.

But none of this was enough to save him.

AC Milan sack Paulo Fonseca

Fonseca's abrasive style of coaching was ultimately his undoing. He came in and failed to build a connection with any of the squad.

He fell out with star players Rafael Leao and Theo Hernandez to the point where he actually dropped them. He also sidelined others, such as the popular Fikayo Tomori. This was especially a contrast to his predecessor Stefano Pioli who was immensely well-liked by the locker room.

🗣️ Curva Sud Milano: "CARDINALE DEVI VENDERE VATTENE VATTENE"

"Cardinale, you have to sell, go away, go away."

— Milan Posts (@MilanPosts) December 29, 2024

His final game was a frustrating home draw against Roma where he was sent off. The Curva Sud (where the Milan Ultras are) was deeply upset and chanting against ownership throughout the game.

Given this situation, they had to act, and sacking the unpopular Fonseca is a move that the Cardinale regime hopes will restore faith and confidence in their leadership. Though that will ultimately depend on who they hire to replace Fonseca.