Former Liverpool coach Mauricio Pellegrino will replace Unai Emery as the manager of Valencia this summer, and having worked under Rafa Benitez at Liverpool and Inter Milan, the Argentinean is seemingly well equipped for the move into management. How will he do in his new job though? Emery is a touch act to follow, but Valencia goalkeeper Diego Alves believes that Pellegrino could have a Guardiola-esque impact at the Mestella.
Given Pellegrino's lack of management experience at the highest level, his appointment could be seen as a major gamble, but Alves - who has made two appearances for the Brazil National team - believes the move could pay off. He observed:
"As for Pellegrino, I think he is a symbol of the club. I do not know him personally and I have no idea of the work he can do, but it could pay off in the way that Guardiola did for Barcelona. Let's hope it works out. He already knows club better than me, so he knows what needs to be done in order for the club to achieve their goals."
I think Alves is being wildly optimistic here; La Liga is a two-horse race, and the highest Emery could've conceivably taken Valencia is third in the table, which he did three years in a row.
Pellegrino will struggle to match that, let alone exceed it, especially given the fact that in the last 28 years, only three teams - Atletico Madrid, Deportivo La Corunu, and Rafa Benitez's Valencia team - have managed to break the Barcelona/Real Madrid stranglehold on the league.
Here's hoping that Pellegrino was paying attention when Benitez led Valencia to two La Liga titles...
Jaimie Kanwar
Given Pellegrino's lack of management experience at the highest level, his appointment could be seen as a major gamble, but Alves - who has made two appearances for the Brazil National team - believes the move could pay off. He observed:
"As for Pellegrino, I think he is a symbol of the club. I do not know him personally and I have no idea of the work he can do, but it could pay off in the way that Guardiola did for Barcelona. Let's hope it works out. He already knows club better than me, so he knows what needs to be done in order for the club to achieve their goals."
I think Alves is being wildly optimistic here; La Liga is a two-horse race, and the highest Emery could've conceivably taken Valencia is third in the table, which he did three years in a row.
Pellegrino will struggle to match that, let alone exceed it, especially given the fact that in the last 28 years, only three teams - Atletico Madrid, Deportivo La Corunu, and Rafa Benitez's Valencia team - have managed to break the Barcelona/Real Madrid stranglehold on the league.
Here's hoping that Pellegrino was paying attention when Benitez led Valencia to two La Liga titles...
Jaimie Kanwar
I would say that Real Madrid and Barcelona have been a lot stronger in recent years than when Benitez managed Valencia....
ReplyDeleteIm not so sure if he would have succeeded with Valencia given Barcelona's utter dominance under Pep and now Real's strength under Mourinho....
It should be interesting to see how Pelligrino fares and what sort of style of football he goes for, im a firm believer in timing being key to a successful managers tenure, most managers do not get that much time to prove themselves these days so it would help if he can hit the ground running....i don't really know what sort of shape Valencia are in atm with the squad etc so can't comment further or make any speculations.
i used to enjoy watching pellegrino have to get a taxi back to his own position after going up for a corner,what a dreadful slow signing he was.he made carra look like theo walcott.
ReplyDeletelet's home he has some luck as a manager but spanish sides can be incredibly fickle and he could just as easily be out the door by november.
No chance. He'll never achive what Benitez achived with Valencia.
ReplyDeleteJust a small error: Atletico Madrid was on of 3 teams (other that Real M. and Barcelona) who won La Liga, not A. Bilbao
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