Juventus’ coach to quit

ROME: Coach Massimiliano Allegri will leave Juventus at the end of the season after a reported fall-out with the football club’s directors, the newly-crowned Serie A champions said in a statement on Friday.

“Massimiliano Allegri will not be on the Juventus bench for the 2019/2020 season,” Juve announced in a shock development.

Allegri, 51, had rejected reports saying he was about to be dismissed last Saturday adding he had already been making plans for next year over the past six months.

He held meetings with the club’s hierarchy this the week during which a clear disagreement between the two parties emerged.

Italian newspaper Gazzetta dello Sport claimed they fell out over a variety of subjects including Allegri’s desire for an increased salary and a differing vision of the side’s future.

Juventus have already wrapped up their record eighth consecutive title, and Allegri’s fifth in as many years and he lifted the Coppa Italia on four occasions since replacing Antonio Conte in 2014.

The club’s former midfielder Conte along with France boss and ex-defender and coach Didier Deschamps, Champions League finalist Mauricio Pochettino of Tottenham and Lazio’s Simone Inzaghi have been linked with taking over from Allegri in the Italian press in recent weeks.

Allegri’s departure from the Allianz Stadium will alert a host of big European outfits and his name shot up the bookmakers’ list of favourites to be the next permanent coach at Inter Milan and Chelsea.

Despite signing Cristiano Ronaldo from Real Madrid last summer the Bianconeri failed to make it past the quarter-finals of the European football’s top competition for the second successive season.

They were humiliated by modest-spending Ajax in the last eight in April despite a star-studded side including Ronaldo, Argentina’s Paulo Dybala and France World Cup winner Blaise Matuidi.

Allegri guided Juve to two European finals losing to Barcelona in 2015 before being hammered by Real Madrid two years later. Allegri and club president Andrea Agnelli will hold a press conference on Saturday.