The soccer world was stunned when Carlo Ancelotti backed out of managing Brazil. Despite extensive negotiations, a drafted contract, and a CBF emissary in London, the deal fell apart. Why did Ancelotti reject the Canarinha at the eleventh hour?
In soccer, those working behind the scenes to orchestrate transfers only breathe easy once their client puts pen to paper. No matter how well-prepared everything is, everything is just paperwork without a signature. The Carlo Ancelotti situation with Brazil proves this point.
All day yesterday, versions of the contract that would bind Carletto with the Canarinha were being exchanged, but the coach did not sign in London as the CBF demanded and returned empty-handed to Madrid in the afternoon. Ultimately, the coach backed out when everything was already drafted on paper; only his signature was missing.
MARCA reveals the presence of Diego Fernandes, the CBF emissary, at the Real Madrid-Arsenal Champions League match along with Spanish agent Álvaro Costa. This businessman will be in charge of overcoming the last obstacles to make the dream of seeing Carletto on the bench of the canarinha a reality: finding a formula to convince him to renounce the Club World Cup and join in June.
In fact, he would present himself on May 26 (LaLiga ends on the 25th) to introduce himself and give his first list for the two matches against Ecuador and Paraguay. The day after the defeat against Arsenal, Carletto ended up agreeing to all of this in a lunch with the CBF emissary to take charge of Brazil until after the 2026 World Cup.
New contacts after Copa del Rey loss
Diego Fernandes in the stands at La Cartuja. The coach meets with the businessman, and it is agreed that everything will be finalized on a trip to London that took place on Monday, where the CBF president, Ednaldo Rodrigues, was not present. During dinner on Monday, the coach already raised objections. Negotiations continued yesterday, and versions of the contract were even exchanged with Madrid to tweak things.
Carlo does not sign and returns to Madrid in the afternoon accompanied by the emissary of the Brazilian Federation, arriving hastily for the afternoon training session in Valdebebas. The CBF still hopes that Carlo will sign in Madrid, but he does not. It is already very late, around half-past ten at night, when everything falls apart. Carletto says he is not going to sign. “It falls apart, everything falls apart. He said in the meeting that Madrid is not letting him sign, to the surprise of the intermediaries,”.
Reasons why Carlo didn’t sign
There are several versions here, pending what Ancelotti explains. CBF sources to Brazilian media say that Carlo wanted to collect part of his money from the year he has left at Madrid. However, sources close to Carlo deny this and, in fact, assure that Madrid had not put any impediment and that he had not requested compensation from the blanco club.
What does seem clear is that the problem lies in signing a contract with Brazil without being released from Madrid. And, in this case, it posed risks to the coach with the blanco club.
Madrid, in fact, had given Carlo free rein to negotiate, but it was not in favor of him signing yet, since it understands that it would end up being leaked by the CBF, and an agreement would be announced while the coach is playing for LaLiga with Madrid.
Unless there is a major surprise, this operation has broken down, although there is still data to be gathered from people who are inside the negotiation and who still do not know very well the reason for Carlo’s no. It may also have annoyed Madrid that Carlo returned to Madrid yesterday afternoon accompanied by the CBF emissary and that his presence has been revealed by some media over the past few weeks.
An offer from Arabia on the back burner
Another reason that points to the “no” is a possible offer from Arabia. Sources from the negotiation assure that this option was put on the negotiating table in London. However, there are advisers of the coach who still have no news of this offer, so if it exists, it is still very green.
Now, it remains to be seen what steps Ancelotti and Real Madrid will take. If, in the end, the Brazil thing comes to nothing, the coach could lead the team in the Club World Cup, when in the blanca entity, as MARCA revealed, the possibility of an interim coach had already been studied; everything pointed to Solari to lead the team before the arrival of the new coach. Xabi Alonso has almost all the ballots. It remains to resolve Carlo’s departure. It was going to be an honorable departure, but we have to wait to know the impact that all this mess with Brazil will have.
Also, some doubts that Carlo had at the time about his jump to Brazil, such as his stay or security, do not seem to be reasons for the “no.” In that sense, both he and his family were already in agreement with the conditions of this trip so that Carletto would go from directing the most decorated club in the world to the most decorated national team in the world.
