Brazil Continue To Hold Out For Real Madrid Coach Carlo Ancelotti

Brazilian Football Confederation president Ednaldo Rodrigues has admitted that they will continue to wait for Real Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti as they seek to appoint a new permanent coach for their national soccer team.

The country have been without a coach since Tite resigned after World Cup elimination following quarter-final defeat to Croatia in December. Interim coach Ramon Menezes has taken over, but on a temporary basis only.

“Our plan A is still exactly that [to appoint Ancelotti]. We have a feeling that it could work. We are going to wait for the end of the competition [in Spain],” Rodrigues said, speaking in an interview with Band TV.

“There is already a champion which is Barcelona, but we are going to wait for the competition to end because we have an intuition that it can work out,” he continued. “If I were in his place, with a contract strictly speaking, I wouldn’t disparage the company that hired me to do that either.”

Why are Brazil so keen on Ancelotti?

Despite having won Ancelotti, who was recently also in charge of Paris Saint-Germain, Napoli and Everton, has no experience as a coach at international level. His most recent stint with a national team was in the early 1990s when he served as an assistant to Italy coach Arrigo Sacchi.

“We want someone who has a project not only for the senior team but also for the grassroots teams, such as the U23s, U20s and U17s, which can serve as feeders,” Rodrigues explained.

“[Ancelotti] is a coach who has that vision and has the courage to place new talents to play,” he added. “That’s why, without detracting from any other coach, whom we respect – and Brazil has many coaches whom we appreciate because they are competent – we are still waiting.”

The Brazilian national team will play Guinea in Barcelona on June 17 and then take on Senegal in Lisbon on June 20, both in friendly matches. Rodrigues underlined his desire to have a clear vision of the future by that time, even if Ancelotti or an alternative coach were not yet in the hot seat.

Ancelotti hasn’t been drawn on his future

The Real Madrid coach has refused to be drawn on his future in recent weeks, with his reaction to questions continually being on the same lines as when he spoke before the Copa del Rey final early this month when he said that, “whatever happens, my future is clear, I have a contract until 2024”.

Alongside his team, including his son and assistant Davide, he has already begun planning for the 2023/24 campaign alongside José Ángel Sánchez, the club’s General Manager. That includes decisions on the future of several players, with the likes of Marco Asensio, Dani Ceballos and Nacho all reaching the end of their contracts this summer.

Another decisive factor could be the future of Karim Benzema. The Frenchman has an offer from Saudi Arabia, which could see Los Blancos lose their top scorer this summer. If that is the case, Ancelotti and Sánchez will be pushing club president Florentino Pérez to invest heavily in the squad to add to the imminent arrival of Jude Bellingham from Borussia Dortmund.