Carlo Ancelotti's future at Milan has been one of the major talking points in Italy in recent weeks as there are huge doubts whether he will be able to hold on to his job beyond this season.

Milan are currently third in the Serie A standings, 14 points adrift of leaders Inter and seven behind Juventus. With nine matches to go their chances of challenging for the title look already over but they still have a slim chance of pipping Juventus for the runners-up spot.

Ancelotti has done a superb job at Milan since taking over from Fatih Terim.

The former Juventus mentor was on the verge of making a return to Parma when, in November 2001, he was chosen by Milan to lead the club into a new era after the spells of Oscar Washington Tabarez and Arrigo Sacchi in 1996/97, Fabio Capello in 1997/98, Alberto Zaccheroni and Terim.

With Ancelotti at the helm, Milan won the Champions League in 2003 and 2007 and finished runners-up in Europe's premier club competition after a penalty shoot-out against Liverpool in 2005.

A former deputy to Italy head coach Sacchi during the 1994 World Cup, Ancelotti also led Milan to the 2003/04 scudetto and the 2003 Coppa Italia. The seven-times European champions also won the European Super Cup in 2003 and 2007 and went on to lift the FIFA World Club Cup in December 2007.

Ancelotti is only the fifth coach - like Giovanni Trapattoni, Frank Rijkaard, Johan Cruyff and Miguel Munoz - to win the Champions League both as a player and manager.

But, despite his countless achievements with Milan, many suggest that Ancelotti should be part of summer revolution if the Rossoneri are to return to winning ways after yet another trophy-less season.

In recent years, Milan have suffered badly due to poor managerial choices at the start of the season. Last summer, Milan opted to sign Ronaldinho from Barcelona instead of his team-mate Samuel Eto'o.

Ancelotti's 4-3-2-1 system was perfect for a deadly finisher like Eto'o. On the other hand, Ronaldinho is very similar to Riccardo Kakà who under-performed whenever he was deployed alongside compatriot Ronaldinho.

Added to that, Milan have relied too much on a number of experienced players. Bringing back former icon Andriy Shevchenko was not a good idea either. The 32-year-old Ukrainian has just featured in 13 league matches (of which 11 as a substitute) this season.

If anything, the January transfer of David Beckham confirmed that Milan's transfer policy gave priority to very popular seasoned players and enhanced the club's merchandise revenue in no small way at the expense of bolstering the team to bridge the gap with the very best in Italy and Europe.

At this stage, one wonders what involvement Ancelotti had in all this. He is being linked with lucrative jobs at Real Madrid and Chelsea who are both expected to spend big on the transfer market.

Ancelotti still has one year on his current contract with Milan.

Recently, he made public his intention to be at the helm of an African team in next year's World Cup, possibly Ivory Coast. Ancelotti hinted that he could do this on a part-time basis insisting that he will not leave Milan.

Ancelotti represents Milan's glorious past, their modest present and possibly a triumphant future if the club give him suitable players for his liking.

One augurs that in future Milan will start giving more and more space to their up-and-coming youngsters instead of parking them elsewhere.

Club chief Adriano Galliani has already hinted that next summer's transfer market is expected to be very lean for most clubs including Milan.

The challenge for Milan is to offload and get the best price possible for the unwanted and the ageing players and instead replacing them with those so badly needed by Ancelotti.

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