Spain awaits answer of Luis Enrique, favourite to be named new coach
The Spanish Football Federation has offered him a contract worth one million per year, but the former Barcelona coach also has a proposal from England worth much more.
As José Francisco Molina was confirmed this Monday as the new Sporting Director of the Spanish Football Federation, Luis Enrique remains the chief candidate to take over from Fernando Hierro as the new head coach.
The former Barcelona manager has reportedly been offered a contract worth one million a year by the Federation. However, Enrique has also had an offer from a Premier League club said to be worth in the region of six million euros per year, which is much higher than the offer to coach the national team.
The Federation would be willing to raise their offer to 1.5 million euros and also guarantee him a salary review should Spain qualify for Euro 2020. If that were to happen, his salary would increase by 15 percent.
Roberto Martinez would be Plan B
Luis Enrique is tipped to accept the deal and reject the much larger offer from England. But in the case that a deal cannot be struck, the ‘Plan B’ would be Roberto Martinez.
The current Belgian coach would be a favoured option for Spanish Football Federation president, Luis Rubiales. But Rubiales would not want a repeat of the incident with Julen Lopetegui, who, just days before the start of the World Cup, unexpectedly gave his notice of resignation as Spanish head coach to take up an offer to become Real Madrid’s new manager for the 2018-19 season. In this case, Rubiales would wait for Martinez to cease his contract with the Belgian football federation before entering into any type of negotiations.
But for the moment, Spain fans will have to await the answer of Luis Enrique, which is expected very shortly.
