Iñigo Pérez close to replacing Marcelino at Villarreal after exit confirmed | OneFootball

Villarreal confirmed on Tuesday morning that Marcelino García Toral has left the club. Iñigo Pérez, 38, is close to taking over. According to El Correo, he is poised to sign a two-year deal after beating Míchel of Girona to the job.

Marcelino ends his second stint having again left the team in Champions League places, a second successive season no Villarreal coach had previously achieved. He is considering his next step, with Crystal Palace and Roma among the clubs to have sounded him out. Palace are in the Europa League semi-finals but 15th in the Premier League, while Roma are sixth in Serie A.

His departure began to take shape in a meeting with the hierarchy before the Christmas break. The club offered a one-year contract, while Marcelino wanted two, as is his custom. He believes a coach must feel backed to wield authority in the dressing room, which for him starts with continuity.

The board did not envisage a long-term future under him. President Fernando Roig aims for a financially sustainable model, with lower spending on signings and a bigger role for the academy. Marcelino argues that a Champions League target requires reinforcements.

Pérez, born in Pamplona, joined Athletic’s academy from Txantrea in the Navarre capital. He played 58 games for the first team, leaving in 2014 after loans at Huesca and Mallorca.

As a coach he assisted Andoni Iraola at Rayo Vallecano, then replaced the dismissed Francisco there. He has taken Rayo into Europe and to the Conference League semi-finals, and was floated as a possible successor to Ernesto Valverde at San Mamés, though there had been no contact.

He leaves after 298 official matches, the most in Villarreal’s history, having surpassed Manuel Pellegrini this year.

Source: El Correo