Emery leaves Sevilla, Sampaoli lined up

Seville (Spain) (AFP) – Sevilla announced the departure of coach Unai Emery on Sunday and added they are in contact with Argentine Jorge Sampaoli.

The news came as French media speculated that Spaniard Emery could be in line to replace Laurent Blanc at Paris Saint-Germain.

“The club received a statement from Unai Emery’s lawyers in which he indicated his intention to unilaterally terminate his contract with FC Sevilla, due to his desire to no longer coach the first team during the 2016/17 season,” said a statement on their official website.

Sevilla added that Sampaoli would arrive on Monday to negotiate a deal.

Emery led Sevilla to the Europa League title in each of his three full seasons at the club since joining them in January 2013.

The 44-year-old has also coached Valencia, Spartak Moscow and Almeria.

Sampaoli’s stock is high after guiding Chile to the Copa America title last year, although he subsequently resigned in January. He has only ever coached in South America.

Blanc has a contract with PSG until 2018 but club president Nasser Al-Khelaifi hinted last week that he may be considering replacing the former France coach.

Blanc has led PSG to three French titles in a row but has failed to get them past the quarter-finals of the Champions League.

“I’ve supported (Blanc) for three years. Now, I have to ask the right questions. Big changes could happen,” Al-Khelaifi told the Le Parisien newspaper.

“I’ve been here for five years and this is the first time that we have this sense of failure. This isn’t simply the fact of having lost in the quarter-finals of the Champions League (to Manchester City), it’s the way it happened.

“This elimination is the worst moment since I came to Paris.”

However, it is believed it would cost PSG around 20 million euros ($22.5 million) to sack Blanc.