OFFICIALLY OFFICIAL: Max Allegri will not be Juventus’ manager next season

Juventus will have a new manager come the summer months. Or maybe they will have a new manager come the end of the month. Either way, Juventus, the eight-time defending Serie A champions, are making a still-surprising change on the sidelines regardless of what you thought of their form for much of the past eight or nine months.

In a very brief and swift press release on Friday, Juventus announced that the man who has led the bianconeri to the last five Scudetti, Max Allegri, will not be back to try and lead the club to a ninth overall successive league title. The statement from Juve’s official website in full:

Massimiliano Allegri will not be on the Juventus bench for the 2019/2020 season.

The coach and the President, Andrea Agnelli, will meet the media together at tomorrow’s press conference - Saturday 18 May, at 2pm in the press conference hall of Allianz Stadium.

That’s it. That’s the only official information we have right now.

It’s pretty easy to figure out that both Allegri and Agnelli will have a lot of questions to answer during the press conference Saturday. And seeing as they will both be on the podium, the initial reaction to it seems like decision is a relatively mutual one.

I mean, if Allegri — who would have entered the final year of his current contract if there was no new deal struck — had just gotten canned, maybe he wouldn’t sit up there with Agnelli on Saturday. Or maybe he wouldn’t even be the guy coaching Juventus in their home finale on Sunday against Atalanta.

Allegri and Agnelli had previously conducted their much-anticipated summit on both Wednesday and Thursday, with Friday expected to be more of the same between the two. According to reports on Thursday, Allegri and Agnelli were set to meet for a third day, the topic of their talks or how long it might last being of one the major things the Italian press was having trouble locking down.

Some outlets believed that Allegri was asking for at least one more year be added onto his contract. Others felt like Allegri’s job was going to be confirmed for next season and that he was in lengthy discussions with Agnelli about what he thought the summer transfer campaign should look like.

As it turned out, Allegri and Agnelli came to the conclusion many, many folks from the outside felt needed to happen — a change on the sidelines was the best for all parties involved.

What comes out in the Italian press about what was discussed at the Allegri-Agnelli three-day summit in the next few days will be pretty interesting.

Same goes for the realistic — and not-so-realistic at all — managers that will be linked to the club over the next 24, 48 or 72 hours.

No matter how you feel about it, though, #AllegriOut is now a real thing.