Villarreal FC, famously known as The Yellow Submarine qualified for the Champions League for the first time in 5 years. They finished 4th with 64 points, 2 points ahead of 5th placed Athletic Bilbao. Villarreal had a great last season as per their standards, winning 18 matches in the league with 10 draws and 8 losses, they reached to the sem finals of the Europa and lost to Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool in the second leg of the tie. Marcelino’s men also had some great wins under their belt against Real Madrid and Liverpool in the Europa league tie.
With the Champions League in upcoming season and also expectations to do good in the league after a successful 2015/16 season, Villarreal have a mighty task in their hands.
Marcelino, who was Villarreal’s coach from 2013 has just departed from the club, surprisingly. Marcelino steered the Yellow Submarine to a fourth-place finish in La Liga last term and had been very active in the transfer market this summer, with the signings of Roberto Soriano, Alexandre Pato from Chelsea and Nicola Sansone to bolster his squad for both domestic and European competition.
The club revealed the news on their official website late on Wednesday evening, making the following statement:
“Villarreal want to wish Marcelino all the best for the rest of his career.
“In the coming hours we will announce a replacement on an interim or permanent basis.”
Reports in Spain suggest that former Manchester City boss, Manuel Pellegrini might return to Villarreal, if so, it’ll be a huge coup for the club and will give their hopes for success a greater push, though it has not happened so far.
Although, the departure of their star performers in Eric Bailly to Manchester United, who was a rock at the back for them and Denis Suarez’s return back to Barcelona might dent their hopes a little, also signing of Alexandre Pato is a gamble seeing how he performed in Europe with AC Milan before he left for Brazil.
Denis Cheryshev and Roberto Soladado will be very vital players for them next season. Also, if they could manage to get Pellegrini before the transfer window closes and he gets to attract some good talents to play under him at Villarreal then they can hope to do well this season again.
They will face a great challenge from the like of Sevilla, who have managed to rope in Jorge Sampaoli as their manager and Athletic Bilbao. There is a growing hysteria among the fans if the yellow submarine regarding their new start in the Europe and also for their upcoming season. They’d hope to replace Marcelino with someone who could take them to a step further and to do well both in the La Liga and in Champions League.
