Leeds United’s signing of Javi Gracia sees six non-British coaches from the same country meet in the English league for the first time in history
Since the formation of the Premier League in 1992, Spain has been one of the countries that has exported the most coaches to the top flight of English football. The pioneer, 18 years ago, was Rafa Benitez, author of European champion Liverpool coming back from 3-0 against Milan in one of the most memorable matches in living memory. After him, Juande Ramos, Roberto Martínez, Pepe Mel, Aitor Karanka or Quique Sánchez Flores came to the banks and to the offices, as sports directors of Manchester City and Leeds United, Txiqui Beguiristain and Víctor Orta.
England demands Spanish workers to manage their teams. And this season stronger than ever. With the signing of Javi Gracia by Leeds, six foreign coaches and from the same country will come together in the Premier for the first time in history.
It is not necessary to say anything about him. After being the architect of the best Barcelona in history and reigning in Germany with Bayern, Guardiola has taken City to another level since his arrival in July 2016. The Santpedor coach has won 11 titles with the “sky blues”, four Premier League, another four Carabao Cup, two Community Shield and one FA Cup.
However, his dominance in English football has failed to translate to the old continent. Since leaving Can Barça, the ‘orejona’ has choked on him, both in Bavaria and Manchester, where he led the team to the 2021 final against Chelsea and fell victim to another performance from Real in the 2022 semi-finals Madrid in the Cup of Europe.
After three and a half years of success as Guardiola’s assistant at City, teacher and student fight side by side this year to become the king of England.
After a promising start, winning the FA Cup and the Community Shield, in the 2020-21 season for the first time in over 20 years, Arsenal failed to qualify for European competitions.
Despite reaching an all-time low at the start of last season, the Spanish coach, who gave confidence to young talents like Saka, Ødegaard and Martinelli, has dusted off the guns from the gunners to take Arsenal to the top of the Premier League .
Despite turning down Newcastle’s juicy offer last season to focus on the project led by Roig at Villarreal, this course has been unable to resist Unai Emery trying his luck on the English benches again to recover from his disappointing spell at make up for Arsenal.
The Gipuzkoan coach took charge of Aston Villa on matchday 14 as the club was just one point from relegation after a disappointing start with Steven Gerrard at the helm. Although he has chained three consecutive defeats in recent days, by taking the team away from the lower zone, Emery has managed to restart a project with old acquaintances of our league such as Coutinho, ‘Dibu’ Martínez, Digne, Diego Carlos or Álex Moreno and that his mid-term goal is to fight with the ‘big-six’.
Once his removal from the Ramón Sánchez-Pizjuán bench was complete, Lopetegui accepted Wolves’ offer to achieve the stability he lacked at the start of the season in Sevilla, where he endured very tough weeks and the rigors of directing had to endure. the Seville club against Borussia Dortmund knowing that he was fired.
The man from Asteasu took office in a situation similar to the one he left in Nervión, as the England team found themselves in relegation places. The former Real Madrid coach and former national team manager has changed the face of a side that has big players like Moutinho, Neves, Sarabia, Cunha, Adama and Diego Costa in its ranks and keeps ‘the wolves’ three points behind West Ham, that marks the relegation places to Championship.
The sacking of Ralph Hasenhüttl led to Sellés being appointed interim manager of Southampton. Despite winning in his debut game, the club opted for Nathan Jones. Now, after yet another layoff, it seems he’s finally established himself as leader of the ‘Saints’.
The Valencian coach, apart from his time coaching Juvenil B of Valencia, has developed his career abroad as a physical trainer and assistant for Aris, Neftchi Baku, Qarabag, Aarhus and Copenhagen.
In their first game, thanks to another free-kick from Ward-Prowse, one of the best set-piece takers of the moment, they beat Chelsea at Stamford Bridge and see the goal of the save closer.
Javi Gracia signed for a season and a half and replaces Michael Skubala, the England interim coach who in turn had replaced American Jesse Marsch. Leeds are in the relegation places with 19 points, two of them from rescue. At Elland Road he will once again meet Rodrigo Moreno, a player he met during his time as coach of Valencia… albeit for a very short time.
This is the second experience in England for the coach from Pamplona. The first took place between 2018/19 when he led Watford in 66 games to retain the category and to the FA CUP final.
Source: La Verdad
I am Shawn Partain, a journalist and content creator working for the Today Times Live. I specialize in sports journalism, writing articles that cover major sporting events and news stories. With a passion for storytelling and an eye for detail, I strive to be accurate and insightful in my work.
