Meet Martín Palermo, Fortaleza's new manager | OneFootball

Fortaleza announced last Wednesday the hiring of the Argentine coach Martín Palermo. The former Boca Juniors player arrives at Leão do Pici to replace Renato Paiva, who was dismissed after the defeat to Internacional.

Gazeta Esportiva prepared an analysis of the career of the new commander of Leão do Pici, including his recent work, playing style, and his trajectory as an athlete.

Who is Martín Palermo?

Playing Career

Born in La Plata, Argentina, Palermo, known as El Loco, is 51 years old and has a vast history in football. As a player, he was discovered by Estudiantes, where he played from 1992 to 1997, but he made his name at another Argentine club: Boca Juniors.

Palermo was part of Boca's victorious campaigns in the Libertadores of 2000 and 2007, in addition to winning the Intercontinental Cup (2000), the Sudamericana twice, the Recopa Sudamericana three times, and the Argentine Championship six times (four Apertura and two Clausura). He played for the club in two stints, the first from 1997 to 2001 and the second from 2004 to 2011, and he is the top scorer in the team's history, with 188 goals.

Besides Boca Juniors, the Argentine also spent some time in Spain, where he played for Villarreal, Real Betis, and Alavés. In total, he scored 207 goals in 433 career games. For Argentina, he played 15 matches and scored nine goals.

Three Missed Penalties in the Same Game

Despite a career filled with goals, one episode that marked Palermo's name in football did not involve scoring. In 1999, the player faced Colombia for Argentina, in a match for Group B of the Copa América, and missed three penalties. First, he hit the crossbar. Then, he shot over the goal. Finally, he was stopped by the goalkeeper's save.

Coaching Career

After retiring from the field, Martín Palermo returned to football in 2012, but this time off the pitch. The Argentine was hired by Godoy Cruz for his first job as a coach. In one year with the Argentine team, the coach recorded 16 wins, 15 draws, and 13 losses.

He then had stints with Arsenal de Sarandí (2014 to 2015), before spending two years at Unión Española in Chile, the club where he accumulated the most games in his career (82). Subsequently, he went through Pachuca, Curicó Unido, Aldosivi, and Platense, until reaching Olimpia.

It was with the Paraguayan team that Palermo won his only title as a coach. In the last season, the team won the Apertura of the Paraguayan Championship. After being eliminated in the group stage of this year's Libertadores, the coach left Olimpia. In total, there were 54 games, 25 wins, 17 draws, and 12 losses.

Playing Style

Palermo used the 4-4-2 formation in most of the games he managed at Olimpia, but changed the team's playing style towards the end of his tenure. This shows that the coach has a preference for a system with two forwards, but can also adapt the style of play to suit the players' characteristics.

The Argentine's preferred scheme was the same used by Renato Paiva in his last game at Fortaleza. The Portuguese coach did not have a fixed system, but showed a preference for the 4-3-3, used in four of the 10 matches in charge of Leão.

Moreover, the team had already played with the same formation under the command of Juan Pablo Vojvoda, proving that they can also vary their style of play.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇧🇷 here.