Staff Reporter.
(AFP) – Valencia announced on Monday that coach Gennaro Gattuso was leaving the club.
The club said that the two sides “have decided by mutual agreement to terminate the contractual relationship”.
After losing 1-0 to Valladolid on Sunday, Valencia are 14th in LaLiga, one point above the relegation places.
“It is clear that I am responsible for this,” Gattuso said on Sunday after the defeat.
Spanish media said that Gattuso had been frustrated by the lack of transfer activity by the club and met with club’s top management on Monday.
Gattuso, a defensive midfielder who played 73 times for Italy, first became a head coach in 2013 with Sion in Switzerland.
He managed former club AC Milan for two seasons from 2015 to 2017, coached Napoli from December 2019 to May 2021. His only trophy as a manager is the Coppa Italia in 2020.
He agreed to join Fiorentina in the summer of 2021 but quit before starting his contract after a dispute over the club’s transfer policy.
Gattuso took over at Valencia in June, replacing Jose Bordalas who had led the club to a ninth-place finish and the Copa del Rey final.
Valencia said that long-time coach Voro, who has been caretaker or interim boss at the club on six occasions, would be in charge when the squad resumed training on Tuesday.
Meanwhile Spain’s High Council for Sport (CSD) said on Monday that more than 10 Real Valladolid fans who racially insulted Real Madrid star Vinicius Junior in a LaLiga game last month will be punished.
Some home fans hurled abuse at the Brazilian winger during Madrid’s 2-0 win at Valladolid on 30 December, prompting LaLiga to file a complaint to the local courts.
The CSD said in a statement that its Commission against Violence, Racism and Xenophobia in sport has “initiated proceedings for the proposed punishment of more than 10 supporters” over the incidents.
Police are collecting data before recommending punishments, which could include fines of €4 000 and a one-year ban from sports stadiums for any person identified, the statement added.
LaLiga made a complaint about the fans to the police and said they had provided video and audio recordings they had gathered.
The commission also held an extraordinary meeting on Monday to discuss another incident involving the 22-year-old Brazilian.