Sevilla had reached agreement with star manager before Jose Luis Mendilibar Europa League win

Sevilla are currently battling to work their way up the table again, having switched manager for the fourth time in the space of little over a year, with Diego Alonso arriving. The Uruguayan coach is harbouring a number of doubts, but Los Nervionenses were close to securing the signature of a major name.

According to Diario AS, before Sevilla won the Europa League, they more or less had agreed a deal to sign former River Plate manager Marcelo Gallardo. One of the most successful in the history of Argentine football, Gallardo had seemingly been waiting for the right opportunity in Europe, but has now taken the reigns at Al Ittihad in Saudi Arabia.

Gallardo was Sevilla’s top choice, with Monchi still at the helm in May, but the clamour for Mendilibar to be given a permanent deal meant that they missed out on Gallardo. Sevilla then attempted to sign Gallardo again after dismissing Mendilibar in September, but by that point Gallardo had doubts about the spending power at Sevilla by that point, and the budget to bring him in on big money was no longer there.

‘El Muneco’ will have to be filed under the ‘what if’ category for Sevillistas, as they wait impatiently for Alonso’s methods to take effect. Sevilla have been stuck in a holding pattern, with the exception of their Europa League run since the start of 2022 more or less, the pressure has shifted to President Jose Castro now.