Madrid, May 8 (IANS) Spanish La Liga football club Valencia announced that former defender Mauricio Pellegrino will be their new coach for the next two seasons.
The decision which was announced by Valencia President, Manuel Llorente puts an end to rumours over the future of current coach Unai Emery, who will leave Valencia at the end of the season after four successful seasons in charge.
Valencia have finished third behind FC Barcelona and Real Madrid for the past two seasons and Saturday’s 1-0 win over Villarreal assured they will again finish third in the season which also saw Valencia reach the semifinals of the Europa League and Copa del Rey.
Forty-year-old Pellegrino spent six successful seasons as a player at Valencia after moving to Spain to join Barcelona. When he retired he joined the backroom staff at the club, before joining Liverpool where he worked as assistant to Rafael Benitez, with whom he won two league titles and the UEFA Cup.
He moved with Benitez to Inter Milan in the summer of 2010 and left the club with the Spaniard when Benitez was sacked in December of the same year.
The former Argentinean international faces a difficult job in following Emery, given that Valencia have had to sell key players, such as David Villa, David Silva and Juan Mata in recent years to help clear their large debt, while the club is known for having some of the most demanding fans in Spain.
Emery, meanwhile, has been linked with a possible move to Russian side Spartak Moscow, although nothing has been confirmed.
