Villar wants Joaquín Caparrós as Del Bosque's replacement
The 60 year old coach is holding out for the national team job and has turned down job offers from Málaga and EspanyolEngland vs Spain
The number one candidate to replace Vicente del Bosque as Spanish national team coach is Joaquín Caparrós. The head of the Spanish FA, Ángel Villar is resigned to the fact that Del Bosque will not stay on in the position at the conclusion of the forthcoming Euro 2016 tournament and is looking for someone to succeed the coach from Salamanca. As things stand, Caparrós is firm favorite to take the reigns as coach of “La Roja” with the 60 year old having rejected positions at Málaga and Espanyol, (along with a possible appointment at Valencia) knowing that everything points to him filling the position, aware that he meets the requirements that Villar has expressed on many occasions: “the new coach must be Spanish and currently out of work”.
Villar has filtered through other candidates in the search for Del Bosque’s replacement. At present only Caparrós meets with all the conditioning factors the head of the federation has stipulated. Other would-be candidates have been ruled out for a number of reasons. Ernesto Valverde has just signed a new deal committing him to Athletic. Unai Emery and Paco Jémez have existing contracts with Sevilla and Rayo Vallecano respectively whilst Julen Lopetegui has been ruled out due to his disappointing time at FC Porto. As it stands according to reliable inside sources at the RFEF (Spanish Football Federation), “Caparrós has moved to the top of the list”.
AS spoke with Caparrós last night and he admitted, “I’d be delighted to follow Vicente (Del Bosque), and it would be an honour to coach the Spanish team. It would be the pinnacle of my professional career. I’ve been involved at the top level for more than 15 years and I know the structure of the game from regional through to youth levels. I have great contacts at provincial federations and if Villar was to offer me the position, then there would be no hesitation in accepting the role. The only condition being that Vicente would have resigned beforehand. That is a non-negotiable issue”, he concluded.
Del Bosque, who himself mentioned that he had an ideal replacement "in mind” just this week has a great relationship with Caparrós. They played together with the Real Madrid youth team and it’s precisely Caparrós’ extensive grasp on youth set up at LaLiga clubs throughout Spain that puts him in the driving seat to be the next Spanish national team coach.
