AC Milan have appointed Filippo Inzaghi as their new coach on a two-year contract after confirming the dismissal of Clarence Seedorf on Monday.
Seedorf has been relieved of his duties less than five months after taking charge of the Rossoneri. His failure to guide the club into Europe next season has resulted in the two-and-a-half-year contract he signed in January being terminated.
The Dutchman is reportedly set to earn approximately 10 million euros in a severance package after Milan’s board of directors agreed to president Silvio Berlusconi’s notion to sack the 38-year-old, formalising his dismissal with a brief, two-line statement published on their website.
“AC Milan announce that the coach Clarence Seedorf has been sacked and Filippo Inzaghi has been entrusted with the responsibility for the first team until June 30, 2016,” the statement read.
Seedorf brought an end to his playing career to leave Brazilian side Botafogo on January 16 and take over as coach of a Milan side placed 11th in the Serie A table, 10 points behind the top five.
Milan won 11 out of 19 league matches under his guidance, ending the season just one point adrift of a place in the Europa League next season. They were also eliminated from the Champions League by eventual finalists Atletico Madrid, and dumped out of the Coppa Italia by Udinese.
That was deemed insufficient to keep Seedorf in his job and Inzaghi, previously in charge of Milan’s youth team, held talks with Milan’s general manager Adriano Galliani several times over the past fortnight.
When asked a week ago whether he was on the verge of replacing his former teammate, an emotional Inzaghi said he would “be delighted” to be given the opportunity, but insisted he was still in charge of the youth team, adding “whatever Milan tell me to do, I will do.”
Milan have now told him to prepare a team to perform better in Serie A next season.
“We need to get back to being protagonists like we have been over the past 30 years,” Berlusconi told reporters on a visit to the club’s new Casa Milan headquarters last Friday.
“There are always breaks between one cycle and another, but I hope that, with my support, and that of a great champion like Inzaghi, and with the support of my daughter Barbara, who is a genius when it comes to organisation, we can build a future as great as our past.
“Inzaghi is hungry to win things, which is congruent with everything that we want at Milan — a side which takes to the field to win and entertains the fans by producing a spectacle.”
