Leeds United excited to appoint Javi Gracia as manager, made contact weeks ago – Sky Sports News
Leeds United are excited to appoint Javi Gracia as their new manager after making initial contact weeks ago, according to Sky Sports reporter Tim Thornton.
The Whites sacked Jesse Marsch (6 February) and failed to appoint an immediate replacement, but have now settled on the former Watford boss after falling into the relegation zone following defeat to Everton on Saturday (18 February).
And according to Thornton (Sky Sports News, 13:04) talks accelerated on Sunday night to bring him in and he was selected from a list of eight candidates after the initial three that turned the role down.
“Javi Gracia is someone they’ve been aware of for some time,” he said.
“Contact was first established a couple of weeks ago and things really accelerated with this one on Sunday night.“He’s really impressed everyone at Leeds with his knowledge. He provided detailed video analysis and Leeds are quite excited that they’re close to getting this one over the line.
“Leeds have worked hard to get this one done. There were three names they were very keen on that were on their shortlist where talks took place, but they were unavailable.
“Off the back of that Leeds then identified another eight candidates and talks took place. They tried to engage with the likes of Rafa Benitez and Nuno Espirito Santo but it’s my understanding that they weren’t interested in the position.”
Quiet
Well Leeds kept that one quiet, because Gracia wasn’t even part of the betting odds until yesterday when he flew in as the favourite.
Gracia has got great experience at the top level, winning the Qatar All-Stars League but also reaching the FA Cup final during his time at Watford and helping them avoid relegation.
He’ll only have 15 games here this season, but there is some talk that survival would see him stay for another year and if he is in the position where that’s possible then fans are unlikely to be too angry about that.
It took far too long to get to this point, but the important thing is that the club have acted upon the circumstances presented to them and got someone in with experience and quality.
Now he needs to deliver, and the players absolutely must step up to get this club out of this hole that they got us in with their awful performances.
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