Marcelo Gallardo is demanding around £6.5 million a year at his next club with Premier League strugglers Leeds United and Southampton interested in the former River Plate boss, according to El Futbolero.
With all due respect, the decision to hand the respective reins to Javi Gracia and Ruben Selles – both remaining in charge until the end of the current campaign – spoke volumes about the paucity of other options available to Leeds and Southampton.
When Jesse Marsch and Nathan Jones were put out of their misery, few would have imagined that it would be Gracia and Selles treading the touchline when Southampton travelled to Elland Road on Saturday afternoon; Junior Firpo’s late goal securing three vital points in a huge clash at the bottom of the table.
But both Arne Slot and Andoni Iraola had understandable reservations about giving up a title fight or a European challenge for a relegation battle. Gallardo, months after bringing an end to eight exhausting years at River Plate, came to a similar conclusion. The 47-year-old Argentine is taking a sabbatical until the summer.
Whether Leeds or Southampton return for Gallardo remains to be seen. That depends largely on whether Gracia or Selles do enough to earn themselves a long-term deal. Or, indeed, whether either club has the financial might and the pulling power to snare a coach who picked up a remarkable 14 trophies at River while being labelled ‘incredible’ by one Pep Guardiola.
Will Leeds or Southampton return for Marcelo Gallardo?
Gallardo, Lance say, asked for £6.5 million a year when in negotiations with Atletico Mineiro; a demand which had the Brazilian outfit running for the hills. El Futbolero, meanwhile, believe that Gallardo has no plans to accept a reduction on the £5 million a year contract he had at River.
£6.5 million is not quite at the same level of Marcelo Bielsa’s Elland Road wage. But it’s not far off.
“His main quality is how gets across his ideas. The way he conveys what he wants the team to do on the pitch. Another great virtue is how he manages the work. He is all about the details,” Marcelo Tulbovitz, formerly a fitness coach at River Plate, tells DelSol FM.
Gallardo, he says, is ‘world-class’ in every sense of the word.
“If he has to sub off someone, he does not count to three. He’s not capricious in those things. He has an aggressive and offensive vision of the game. He is pragmatic, not tied to a system, and he is quick to read his rival.
“Marcelo is on top of everything at world level.”
Gallardo is learning English as he weighs up his next move; Europe his most likely destination (Ole). Leeds director Victor Orta, per The Telegraph, beleives Gallardo is the rightful heir to Marcelo Bielsa at Elland Road.
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