Real Madrid’s Ancelotti set for exit talks with Pérez

Carlo Ancelotti will meet with Real Madrid president Florentino Pérez in the coming days to discuss the coach’s departure from the club, a source has told ESPN.

Madrid were beaten 3-2 after extra time by Barcelona in the Copa del Rey final on Saturday, a defeat which followed their 5-1 aggregate Champions League elimination by Arsenal in the quarterfinals earlier this month, although the team remains four points off the top of LaLiga, with five games left.

Ancelotti has a contract at Madrid until 2026, but has faced persistent speculation over his future throughout this season, with ESPN reporting last week that talks had resumed between the Brazilian Football Confederation and Ancelotti’s camp regarding taking over the Brazil national team.

A source told ESPN that Ancelotti and Pérez would meet in the next few days, with the expected outcome being an agreement for the coach to leave the club after the last LaLiga game of the season, against Real Sociedad.

The club would be keen to bid farewell to Ancelotti in a manner appropriate for one of the most successful coaches in the club’s history. He has won three Champions Leagues and two LaLiga titles in two spells at the Santiago Bernabéu.

“Whether I continue [at Madrid] is an issue for the coming weeks, not for today,” Ancelotti said when questioned about his future in a post-match news conference after Madrid’s cup final loss in Seville.

Last week, the Italian admitted that he and the club would “analyze things at the end of the season,” and wouldn’t confirm that he would be in charge for Madrid’s FIFA Club World Cup campaign this summer.

“We’re still competing for trophies,” Ancelotti said on April 19. “I don’t want to talk about my future.

“We’ll talk about it with the club at the end of the season.

I’ve always had a great relationship with the club,” he added. “There’ll be no confrontation.”

The source would not confirm who would take over from Ancelotti, although the most likely short-term scenario — with Madrid’s Club World Cup campaign due to begin on June 18 — was an internal interim appointment such as director of football Santi Solari, Castilla coach Raul Gonzalez or under-19s coach Alvaro Arbeloa, they said.