Former Leeds United manager Javi Gracia could potentially be in for a return to work after being sacked in May, with La Liga outfit Almeria searching for a new boss.
The Whites’ relegation from the Premier League was a culmination of a host of different factors, but life after Marcelo Bielsa with three different managerial appointments in a season-and-a-half did nothing to stop the rot.
Jesse Marsch was sacked in February to eventually be replaced by Javi Gracia, essentially an afterthought at Elland Road it seemed after a host of rejected targets.
What is Javi Gracia up to now?
Gracia lasted at Leeds until May, with the performances of the side picking up somewhat at first with a win and clean sheet in his first game, but things unravelled incredibly in April for him and Leeds.
A 2-1 win over Nottingham Forest came with a lead at home to Crystal Palace, with Leeds seemingly cruising to safety on that form, only to be on the wrong end of a pasting as the Eagles ran riot with a 5-1 win at full-time, followed by heavy defeats to Liverpool, and Bournemouth along with missed opportunities like Fulham and Leicester City.
In the end, Gracia was sacked in May to be replaced by Sam Allardyce, and the Whites ended the campaign with less points than they had when Patrick Bamford opened the scoring against Palace as things stood.
What’s the latest with Gracia?
Now, it seems as though the Spaniard could be returning to management, according to Super Deporte, who claim he is on the shortlist of La Liga’s bottom club Almeria.
The reasoning behind the move comes from Gracia’s previous stint with the club, as the report reads:
“In the casting that is already open to replace Massanassa’s, Javi Gracia stands out. The Navarrese coach is one of the best placed and already knows the club after having led him in the 2012/13 season, in which he got the promotion to the First Division.”
Almeria sit bottom of the table in La Liga, having picked up just two points from their opening seven games, conceding 18 goals in the process.
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It’s safe to say that Gracia’s time at Leeds will have tarnished his top-flight reputation quite significantly, and you can stem Leeds’ capitulation down to half-time against Palace.
We went from a side that were brushing relegation trouble to one side, to a side that were simply doomed.
What happened that day is still so peculiar, and Gracia just lost all control over the situation at Elland Road.