In a major development, journalist Sergio Santos is reporting that Real Madrid have renewed the contract of manager Carlo Ancelotti until the summer of 2026. Only an official announcement is now pending.
The Italian tactician’s future has been a major topic of discussion for quite some time now, with his current contract expiring at the end of the season.
The Brazilian national team had been making a big push to hire him as their next manager and were quite confident of being able to lure him away.
Ancelotti, though, had always maintained that if given a choice he would opt to continue at Real Madrid. And in recent weeks, the club administration has also been making moves to secure his continuity.
Now, it appears that everything has already been agreed, with the report suggesting that the two parties had resolved the matter of a new contract before heading into the mid-season Christmas break earlier this month.
Real Madrid’s idea was to close the deal before Christmas and it appears that they achieved the same. The coach met with the club’s directors before the break and the agreement is complete.
Los Blancos had already discussed with Ancelotti his stance about the Brazil rumours back in the summer itself and after receiving assurances, had made plans to hand him a new contract if results in the first few months of the season met the requirements.
Heading into the mid-season break, Real Madrid are leaders in La Liga and won each of their six UEFA Champions League group-stage games – enough to convince the club executives to hand Ancelotti a new deal until 2026.
Beyond the sporting results, Ancelotti’s management of the squad has been highly valued at Madrid.
The way he has dealt with the departure of Karim Benzema and extracted the best out of Jude Bellingham, while also coping with a series of injuries this term, has impressed the higher-ups.
As such, fans will be treated with two more years of Ancelotti at the Santiago Bernabeu.