Javier Aguirre signs with Real Zaragoza

Javier Aguirre finally got his wish. The Mexican coach who left Spain after important years with Osasuna and Atlético de Madrid to coach El Tri in this last World Cup, returns to his preferred managerial station in La Liga, but who takes over from Jose Aurelio Gay to lead one of the worst Real Zaragoza sides in recent memory. They have one win at home against Real Mallorca, a win that saved the former coach´s job temporarily, four draws and six losses, and mired in either of the last two relegation slots for the last two months. For the moment, the patient is in arrest and the defibrillator has been implemented.

That said however, this is a long-term project for the once proud side. They lost Eliseu and Arizmendi up front. They were never in the Adrian Colunga sweepstakes, as Getafe had already met Huelva´s demands. They never were able to access Jermaine Pennant´s considerable talents; which is in all fairness no fault of theirs; the player has yet to take full responsibility there. With all that lost however, they bought Leo Franco from Galatasaray and Florent Sinama-Pongolle from Sporting Lisbon. The rest of the Summer signings were free castoffs from around the continent. The one player that might have made a real difference was Chupete Suazo, but they couldn´t even make the 10 million euro evaluation to make his loan deal permanent.

To add to that amount of turnover, and lack of commitment I would say, is the complete instability at the coaching level. Consider the fact that in the last three seasons, both in Primera and Segunda, Zaragoza have had now eight first-team coaches sitting on that bench at La Romareda. That´s no Rose garden to me. Real Zaragoza President Agapito Iglesias is a smart man, and a very rich man from all that´s been written, but there is a stunning lack of leadership at the boardroom level and in the football operational level. Aguirre is a great coach, but Zaragoza have not been lacking in great coaches (Javier Irureta, Victor Fernandez, Marcelino Garcia-Toral), and this doesn´t look like a great decision on Aguirre´s part to side with a club that have done so little to assist any of the coaches they have hired in recent years. Unless the front-office purge has only just begun? One can only hope.

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