Sinisa Mihajlovic has given no clues about his future as Sampdoria coach after the Serie A rumour mill suggested the Serb could be moving to Milan or Napoli next season.

Mihajlovic, who said he had come to Sampdoria out of “love and gratitude”, was not prepared to be distracted by talk about his future as his team challenge for a place in Europe next season.

“The winning horse is the one which is first past the finishing post; it is pointless to run so much if the others overtake in the last 100 metres,” he told reporters after Sunday’s 1-1 draw at Milan.

“I haven’t decided what I will do next year, although I don’t want to mess people around. When I do decide, I’ll say it out loud. I think I’m too smart and mature to be distracted by these rumours.”

Mihajlovic has always credited Sampdoria for saving his playing career. He arrived in 1994 after a two-year spell at Roma which he described as the worst of his career and ended up staying for four years.

He returned as coach 18 months ago with the club second from bottom and steered them to 12th place.

Sunday’s draw left them joint fifth with Fiorentina on 49 points, one behind Napoli and seven adrift of third-placed Roma and a place in the Champions League qualifiers next season.

The fourth and fifth teams qualify for the Europa League, and sixth place will also be good enough this season as the Coppa Italia place will be won by either Lazio and Juventus, who are both in the top five.

“I have come to Sampdoria for love and gratitude, and we are having the sort of season which nobody thought possible,” said Mihajlovic.

“If we qualify for Europe, then I will have paid my debt of gratitude.”

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.