Official! Rui Vitória sacked by Panathinaikos, Sporting partly to blame | OneFootball

It's official! Rui Vitória is no longer the coach of Panathinaikos. The Portuguese coach was dismissed on the morning of this Monday, September 15th, by decision of the Athens club, and Sporting could be one of the reasons for this news.

According to information reported by the newspaper A Bola, the former Benfica coach and the Greek club reached an agreement for an amicable termination of the contract. The decision was made by the sporting director of the Greek capital's club, Spyros Vlachos, who considers that there are no longer conditions to proceed with the outlined project, due to the departure of players and the lack of quality in the recruited reinforcements.

Sporting may have played a fundamental role in the downfall of Panathinaikos' sports plan and the consequent dismissal of Rui Vitória, as the SAD of the Alvalade Club made two of its biggest investments in the last transfer window on two key players from the Athenian team: Georgios Vagiannidis and Fotis Ioannidis.

In the case of Vagiannidis, the right-back was seen as one of the greatest promises of the greens and whites of Greece and Greek football. Frederico Varandas' management paid 12 million euros for the 24-year-old defender, who has already contributed with an assist in four games wearing the lion's jersey.

The loss of Fotis Ioannidis may have been even more crucial. The 25-year-old striker was an undisputed starter and team captain of Panathinaikos. Sporting's SAD made an investment of 22 million euros, having made his debut for Rui Borges' team last Saturday, September 13th, against Famalicão.

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