Santiago Baños confirms América will announce new coach on “Thursday or Friday”
Las Águilas’ Sports Director told TUDN that in two or three days at the most, there will be white smoke in Coapa. The new coach will join the pre-season directly.
It’s been just over three weeks, 23 days to be precise, since América were left without a coach following ‘Tano’ Ortiz’s resignation. Ortiz handed in his notice after the team were eliminated by Chivas in the Clausura 2023 semi-finals, and since then, a host of names have been mentioned as a replacement. Among them, Diego Alonso, Juan Carlos Osorio, Gerardo Martino and Javier Aguirre, some of whom reportedly turned down the Águilas’ proposal, which only increased the pressure in Coapa to find a new coach.
Sports Director Santiago Baños appeared on TUDN and clarified that the only coach who actually turned the club down was Uruguayan, Diego Alonso. As for the rest, he refused to comment further, only affirming that a new coach will be on board by Thursday or Friday of this week. The incoming coach will join the team’s pre-season in Salt Lake City.
Departures and arrivals
América thanked the players who have moved on. Pedro Aquino and Jürgen Damm joined Santos Laguna and Atlético de San Luis, respectively. Joining them will be Federico Viñas, who has packed his bags and is set for León, pending official confirmation. According to Baños, the club hopes to bring in a replacement for ‘Fede’ - as for Aquino, Santiago Naveda will occupy his place after returning from his time on loan with Miedz Legnica in Poland. In the meantime, the Águilas officially announced Kevin Álvarez as the first new addition for the Apertura 2023.
Tano’s resignation
Like everyone else, Baños found out about Tano’s departure when the coach made a shock announcement during a press conference. He revealed that he spoke to Ortiz later that night and tried to convince him to stay, without success. The following day, Ortiz remained firm with his decision and ended up saying goodbye to the squad. Now on board at Monterrey, the coach told Baños that there were players who no longer believed in his project.