Gus Poyet favourite for Leganes job

Former Real Betis Coach Gus Poyet is the early favourite to replace Mauricio Pellegrino at Leganes, say Cadena Cope.

The Uruguayan was only in charge at Estadio Benito Villamarin for eleven matches back in 2016, where he oversaw three wins and six losses, but proved to be unpopular with the club’s fans and reportedly fell out with numerous players.

Poyet then had a similarly unsuccessful stint at Shanghai Shenhua before being instilled at Ligue 1 club Bordeaux, where he was subsequently fired and replaced by Ricardo Gomes in September 2018.

The former midfielder won both the Copa del Rey and UEFA Cup Winners Cup with Real Zaragoza during his playing days but began his coaching career in England with stints at Brighton and Sunderland, while also being at the helm of AEK Athens in Greece.

The Madrid-based club have collected just two points from their opening nine rounds of the league campaign and are adrift at the foot of the table.

Saturday’s 2-0 loss at neighbours Getafe was their third successive defeat in the division and led to renewed speculation that Pellegrino would be dismissed from his role this week.

The Argentine was appointed at Butarque in the summer of 2018 and led the club to a respectable 13th placed finish last season, with 45 points from their 38 league games.

Only Real Valladolid scored fewer than Lega’s 37 La Liga goals last season and this season has seen the side goal-shy once more – scoring just four times in nine outings.

Leganes are three points behind second-from-bottom Espanyol while Real Betis, Celta Vigo and Eibar are a further four points ahead.

The former central defender previously held coaching stints at Valencia and Alaves in Spanish football alongside English club Southampton, and also was in charge of Estudiantes and Independiente in his native Argentina.

Tags Gus Poyet
La Liga - Club News