Repubblica: Napoli must hope for severance with Pioli unwilling to give up Milan wages

Stefano Pioli will almost certainly leave AC Milan in the summer but he is not willing to give up his wages for the final year of his deal.

As La Repubblica (via TMW) write this morning, Pioli will leave Milan once the season ends because the management no longer have faith that he is the right man to lead the team forward, despite the fact he has a contract until June 2025.

Possible replacements like Sergio Conceicao and Paulo Fonseca have been named, but before bringing them in Milan must work out some kind of exit strategy with Pioli given he still has another year left on his €4.5m net per season deal.

The paper state that Pioli is not willing to terminate his contract with Milan a year early and give up the final year of his wages, something that is not too uncommon in truth. That means the club will either need to agree some form of severance pay or keep paying him in 2024-25.

If there is no severance agreed then Pioli would be unable to accept a move to Napoli, who have been linked with appointing the 2021-22 Scudetto winner for next season as their owner Aurelio De Laurentiis is a big fan.