Madrid (AFP) – Fallen La Liga giants Valencia named Marcelino Garcia Toral as the man charged with turning around their fortunes next season on Thursday.
The former Villarreal boss has signed a two-year deal at the Mestalla to become the sixth coach hired by Singaporean owner Peter Lim in the past two years.
“Valencia CF and Marcelino García Toral have reached a full agreement for him to be first team head coach for a minimum period of two seasons,” Valencia said in a statement.
Caretaker coach Voro will remain in charge for Valencia’s final two games of the season against Espanyol and Villarreal.
Marcelino had been a candidate as far back as September when Pako Ayestaran was sacked just four games into the season.
However, La Liga rules don’t allow coaches to manage more than one club in the same season and Marcelino was deemed to have started the campaign at Villarreal, although he was sacked before their first game of the season in August.
Marcelino enjoyed a largely successful time at Villarreal, leading them to fourth in La Liga and the semi-finals of the Europa League last season.
Yet, he was surprisingly sacked just weeks before the start of the season due to differences with the club’s board.
Valencia lie 13th in La Liga with Lim’s management of the club coming three years on from his takeover under severe criticism from the club’s fanbase.
Chairwoman Layhoon Chan announced last month that she will also step down at the end of the season.
