Marcelino sacked by Valencia as Celades takes over at Mestalla
Valencia CF made an official statement on Wednesday to the effect that the Copa winning coach would be replaced by the former Real Madrid assistant boss.
Valencia manager Marcelino has been officially sacked from his post at Mestalla with Albert Celades expected to be named as his replacement imminently. Valencia owner Lim called club president Anil Murthy to his Singapore base the Liga club informed Marcelino of his fate on Wednesday afternoon via a brief statement.
Former Spain U-21 manager Celades, a former Barça midfielder, briefly served as Julen Lopetegui's assistant at Real Madrid after five years with the Spain national sides and the 43-year-old may even take charge of Wednesday's training session.
At present it appears that Lim's decision does not impact on sporting director Mateu Alemany and at present many of the Valencia CF players are supposed to be in a state of shock regarding Lim's decision.
Valencia travel to Camp Nou on Saturday to face Barcelona in LaLiga before embarking on their 2019/20 Champions League campaign as they play Chelsea in London next Tuesday.
Marcelino's Copa win not enough to please Lim
Tensions had been mounting at Valencia all across the summer months when relative calm should have been lapping at the shores of Mestalla after Marcelino masterminded a Copa del Rey victory over Barcelona and led Los Che to the Champions League for a second successive season.
However, the manager had alluded to disquiet among his players about behind-the-scenes power struggle between Lim and Alemany - a battle the Singaporean tycoon was not going to lose.
On top of the institutional uncertainty at the club, Marcelino also went into the season unsure if he would be able to call on star striker Rodrigo Moreno, who had been heavily linked with a big-money move to Atlético Madrid. Even after the Liga kick-off, Marcelino admitted that Rodrigo had told him he was off to Atlético, only for the deal to be called off at the 11th hour.
Now Valencia, who had enjoyed a period of relative stability under the stewardship of Marcelino, will entrust the season to relative novice Celades, who has rarely been in the limelight but has plenty of experience as a number two to Lopetegui.
Valencia CF made the appointment of Celades official just over an hour after sacking Marcelino.