It has become increasingly obvious that Leeds United didn’t have a replacement lined up before they fired Jesse Marsch.
The Premier League club likely had a list of names, and may have even spoken to one or two, but the difficulty of recruiting one of them at this point of the season appears to have been underestimated.
Now Leeds United go into their second match this week against Manchester United, again without a manager. The first one didn’t go too badly, with the Whites getting a valuable point, but they’ll have expected to have had someone in place by now.
Andoni Iraola has been the man most strongly linked over the past week, and the Rayo Vallecano manager remains the favourite with the bookies.
He spoke on Friday to say he’s committed to Rayo and even talked about a potential new contract in the summer.
Rayo’s sports director David Cobeño has now also spoken, and, when specifically asked about Leeds United, AS quote him saying: “Don’t worry, because we trust Andoni a lot. There is a close relationship. Communication is daily and fluid. Although there was interest, we knew that Iraola was going to continue with us.”
He also commented on a possible new deal: “Yes, it is the main objective. We are super happy with him. We will have it difficult because many teams will come into play in the summer. Playing in Europe would be a claim… for those who are here and those who could come.”
