Official: Leeds United appoint Javi Gracia as manager

2023-02-22 11:01

Official: Leeds United appoint Javi Gracia as manager


Javi Gracia, 52, was appointed as Leeds United manager on Tuesday. The contract he signed was officially described as "flexible", and another source said that the contract period is only until June this year.


Javi Gracia is from Spain and played for Valladolid, Real Sociedad, Villarreal and Cordoba in his player era. After hanging up his boots in 2004, Gracia returned to Villarreal as the coach of the youth team, and then successively coached Pontevedra, Cadiz, Olympia Cosvolu, Kekira, Almeria, Osasuna, Malaga, and Rubin Kazan. In January 2018, he replaced Marco Silva to take over Watford and led the team to complete relegation with 8 advantages in half a year.


In July 2020, Gracia was hired as the coach of Valencia, and went to Al-Sadd SC to coach the following year. In June last year, he was dismissed by Sade as the coach due to his poor record, and he has been at home since then.


Leeds United currently ranks second to last in the Premier League with a record of 4 wins, 7 draws, 12 losses and 19 points, only 1 point higher than Southampton. After Jesse Marsch dismissed get out of class, the board of directors once contacted Vallecano coach Andoni Iraola, Fenoyed coach Arne Slot, former Wolves coach Nuno and former Ajax coach Alfred Schroeder, But failed to make any progress.


Leeds United also favored the 40-year-old interim caretaker Michael Skubala to become the regular coach, but two defeats eventually shook their trust in Skubala.