Almería dismisses Garitano

Almería has made official the dismissal of Gaizka Garitano, the coach who took charge of the Andalusian club on matchday ten after the departure of Vicente Moreno.

The Almería team is bottom of the First Division with only 10 points, 14 away from salvation.

Pepe Mel, coach among other teams of Tenerife, Rayo Vallecano, Deportivo, Betis and Málaga, will take charge of the Andalusian team for the last 10 games of the season.

Mel arrives alone to coach Almería for the remainder of the campaign.

A somewhat strange decision because the Andalusian team is practically in the Second Division and its relegation is a matter of time.

Garitano had a contract until 2025. The club management informed him of the dismissal after holding the training session last Monday.

It wasn't until late that the Basque's farewell became official.

“UD Almería and Gaizka Garitano reach an agreement that puts an end to the relationship between both parties.

The club thanks the coach for his professionalism in this stage as a red and white player and wishes him luck in the future,” states the Andalusian club.

With the arrival of Mel, he will be the fourth coach of the Andalusian team this season (Vicente Moreno, the interim Alberto Lasarte and the recently dismissed Garitano)

Garitano's background on the Almería bench has been very poor, since he has only achieved seven of 57 points at stake thanks to seven draws against Betis, Mallorca, Girona, Athletic, Granada, Atlético de Madrid and Sevilla (the rest have been 12 defeats).

In this last match on Monday night, the team was close to achieving its first victory in the League, which finally did not come due to the reaction of Sevilla.

Almería offers good sensations in its game, but it is a team that defends very poorly (57 goals against, the most in the First Division together with Granada).

Despite these feelings, the leaders of the Andalusian club have decided to dismiss Garitano, who has some differences with important elements of the squad.

UD Almería and Gaizka Garitano reach an agreement that puts an end to the relationship between both parties.

The club thanks the coach for his professionalism in this stage as a red and white team and wishes him luck in the future.

pic.twitter.com/ICPDC06OG5

— UD Almería (@U_D_Almeria) March 13, 2024

After drawing against Athletic (0-0), they became the only team in the history of the League unable to win after 24 days of the League.

Almería now has 10 draws and 18 defeats.

It is not the worst historical bottom of the League because Sporting de Gijón, in the 97-98 season, had seven points after 28 games.

There are now 31 games in total that Almería has not won if we add the last three of last season.

The club's original intention was to keep Garitano until the end of the season and after a winter market where Almería sold Akieme for six million euros to Reims and brought in Lozano, Luka Romero, Radovanovic, Langa and Jonathan on loan. Vieira, this one after leaving Las Palmas.

The team's latest performances, Garitano's defeatist speech and his divorce from the squad have precipitated the decision to dismiss the coach.

The campaign is being a disaster for the Andalusian team, owned by Saudi millionaire Turki Al-Sheikh, who bought the club in the summer of 2019 for 20 million euros.

The owner, who has barely set foot in the Andalusian city, has used the team to generate valuable capital gains with players like Darwin Núñez or Sadiq, without developing a sporting project that would allow Almería, at least, to be in the middle zone of the classification.

The club is managed in a delegated manner by the administrator Mohamed El Assy, who carried out the latest team planning with several agents he trusts.

A work environment that did not please Rubi, last season's coach who, despite the difficulties, kept the Andalusian team in First Division.

Rubi left once permanence was achieved on the last day and the club was placed in the hands of Vicente Moreno.

Despite an investment in signings of 52 million, with notable names such as César Montes (14 million to Espanyol) or Luis Suárez (eight million to Marseille), the team had problems competing from the beginning of the competition.

Just the year in which the leap was intended to be made, the big setback has arrived.

Vicente Moreno was dismissed on matchday seven (two draws and five defeats, three points from safety).

Lasarte, coach of the reserve team, spent two games on the bench (one point) until the arrival of Garitano.

You can follow EL PAÍS Deportes on