2023-06-21 11:51:04
Marcelo Gallardo was not completely convinced and Paulo Fonseca was not available, so OM turned to the Spaniard Marcelino, an experienced and respected technician in La Liga, to replace the resigned Igor Tudor.
Published on: 06/21/2023 – 11:51
Free since June 2022 and his departure from Athletic Bilbao, where he spent 18 mixed months, Marcelino Garcia Toral has reached an agreement with Marseille, we learned on Wednesday from a source close to the negotiations. Marcelino was probably not the very first choice of Marseille president Pablo Longoria and his right arm Javier Ribalta, with whom he will nevertheless form a 100% Spanish trio at the head of OM.
But the discussions with Gallardo got bogged down, those with Fonseca never really took off, Lille not being willing to part with their coach, and the Christophe Galtier track was not completely unanimous. So Longoria turned to Marcelino, a name that has been mentioned at OM with each coaching change since the departure of André Villas-Boas.
Twice best manager in La Liga
Because the 57-year-old Asturian is an old acquaintance of Longoria, and even a little more. “I can’t be objective because he’s a friend,” replied the Marseille leader to the Spanish sports daily Marca, who asked him last November for his opinion on the possible appointment of Marcelino at the head of the team. ‘Spain.
The two men met in 2006, at Recreativo Huelva, which Marcelino had just promoted to the Spanish first division. At just 20 years old, Longoria began his career in recruitment there.
Twice voted La Liga’s best coach, Marcelino has never coached outside Spain and is little known to the general public in Europe. But this former midfielder with a lackluster career, even if he was an international U23, has twenty years of experience in the first division.
And even if he hasn’t coached La Liga giants like Real Madrid or Barcelona, he has had good caliber clubs like Valencia, Villarreal or Sevilla in his hands, which he has also managed in the Europa League or in Champions League.
Extending Sanchez…
If Marcelino will probably be less rigid than Tudor, who left behind a worn locker room, Marseille players should not expect a lax coach. Reputed to be tough and uncompromising on athletic form, Marcelino is an almost exclusive follower of the 4-4-2, with a fast and direct game after the recovery.
In Marseille, the Spaniard will in any case quickly have to find the recipe. While the resumption of training is set for July 3, in less than two weeks, OM must indeed play from August 8 or 9 a very important 3rd preliminary round of the Champions League.
In the absence of stability on the bench, where Marcelino will be the fifth technician to sit in just over two years after Villas-Boas, Larguet, Sampaoli and Tudor, OM indeed need continuity in C1.
As for Longoria, after having settled the question of the coach, he will now be able to turn to the transfer window, with the extension of Alexis Sanchez’s contract in priority file.
(With AFP)
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