Andoni Iraola made the right decision staying at Rayo Vallecano despite interest from Premier League outfit Leeds United, Spanish football expert Terry Gibson explains on the El Tel and Jon’s La Liga Weekly podcast.
A ‘massive club’ they may be, to quote the former Tottenham forward, but Leeds are not exactly negotiating from a position of strength in pursuit of their new head coach.
A run of two wins in 19 Premier League games leaves the Yorkshire giants 17th; just four points above bottom-of-the-table Southampton.
Top scorer, Rodrigo Moreno, is also out of action for the foreseeable future. A couple of factors which may have had the likes of Andoni Iraola, Marcelo Gallardo and Arne Slot fearing the potential pitfalls of taking over a relegation-threatened, out-of-form team with just three months of a gruelling season remaining.
Gibson, meanwhile, believes the sudden sacking of Jesse Marsch – just days after Leeds brought in two of his top targets in Georginio Rutter and Weston McKennie – may also have been a red flag for a 40-year-old coach chasing Champions League qualification in La Liga.
Was Andoni Iraola right to turn down Leeds United move?
“Possibly something like that (Marsch’s exit) maybe makes a manager who is in a job think; ‘I don’t want to be part of that. I’m in control here, I’m having a good season. I’ll wait until the summer rather than rush into something’,” says Gibson.
“I can understand both sides. Iraola, he’s going to quadruple, quintuple his salary probably, by going to Leeds. But he also has to look and think, someday, that will happen anyway, whether it’s the Premier League or a bigger, richer club in La Liga. And the time to do that (consider your future) is in the summer.
“You’ve got to know the right time. And probably, for Iraola, now isn’t the right time.”
Leeds, Marca say, were willing to trigger the £7 million release clause in Iraola’s contract. Rayo director David Cobeno admitted this week that the former Spain international – who played under Marcelo Bielsa at Athletic Bilbao – was now set to stay in Vallecas until the summer at least.
‘Like Gary Neville coming to Valencia’
“There’s no doubt he’s a successful, young manager who is going to have a fine career,” GIbson adds. “Is now the right time to move to a team who are in a relegation fight, in a league you don’t know particularly well?
“It’s like Gary Neville coming to Valencia. Iraola coming to Leeds; he won’t know his own players, he won’t know the opposition. That’s not ideal.
“And then you find yourself relegated, despite the fact it’s Leeds and it’s a massive club. Your reputation takes a hit and you don’t know about the patience of the owners. They might think; ‘He took us down. Sack him!’”
“It probably is best at the moment to stay put at Rayo Vallecano.”
Interim coach Michael Skubala is now in contention to stay at the Leeds helm until the end of the season.
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