Rudi Garcia’s adventure in Al-Nassr is coming to an end. According to our information, which confirms that reported by the Spanish press, the French technician who arrived in Saudi Arabia in June 2022, replacing Miguel Angel Russo, should be removed from his post. “The formalization of this separation, now inevitable, is supposed to take place in the next few days, or even before”, confides to us a close friend of the Saudi board. The name of José Mourinho (AS Roma) would even already circulate among the potential successors.
According to various sources, the ousting of Garcia would be, in part, linked to complicated relations with part of the locker room and in particular the Lusitanian star, Cristiano Ronaldo, landed this winter, but also to sports results below the expectations of the Saudi leaders. .
Hung by Al-Fayha (0-0), modest 10th, last weekend and defeat, at the beginning of March, by Al-Ittihad (1-0) in the clash at the top of the table, the Riyadh-based team currently occupies second place in the three-point standings of Al-Ittihad, against whom she also lost in the semi-finals of the Saudi Arabian Super Cup (3-1) at the end of January.
With Ronaldo a blurred relationship
After the draw against Al-Fayha, the 59-year-old French technician had, moreover, stigmatized his players at a press conference. « I am not satisfied with the performance of the players. I asked them to play at the same level as the last game (a 5-0 win over Al-Adalah), but that didn’t happen. There are seven games left, we will try to recover, and we realize it’s not easy after losing two points, but anything is possible », explained Rudi Garcia when Cristiano Ronaldo left the field furious.
The Spanish press also believes that CR7, already plagued by relationship problems with Ralf Rangnick, Erik ten Hag at Manchester United or Fernando Santos with the Portuguese selection, was not really in tune with the former Lille coach. , Marseilles or Lyons. He believes that the Saudi formation has the potential to produce more.