Leeds to confirm Javi Gracia as manager on deal until end of season

Leeds are poised to confirm the appointment of the former Watford and Valencia head coach Javi Gracia as their manager on a contract until the end of the season. The 52-year-old Spaniard has agreed to take over from Jesse Marsch, who was sacked just over a fortnight ago.

The West Yorkshire club are in the Premier League’s relegation zone after defeat at Everton on Saturday and turned to Gracia after failing to land other targets. A quartet of their preferred candidates, Feyenoord’s Arne Slot, West Brom’s Carlos Corberán, the former River Plate coach Marcel Gallardo and Rayo Vallecano’s Andoni Iraola, proved out of reach.

Although Leeds may well try again in the summer for Iraola – whose pressing philosophy fits the template desired by Victor Orta, the director of football – they are acutely conscious that staying in the top flight would be key to any hope of securing his services.

Gracia’s first game will be at home to the club’s relegation rivals Southampton on Saturday, when defeat would leave Leeds bottom. He is set to take over a team who have gone 10 matches without a league win and since beating Chelsea 3-0 in August have earned the fewest points of any Premier League club: 12 from 20 games.

Despite winning the Qatari League with Al Sadd last season, Gracia was sacked by the Doha club last June and he is keen to resume work. He was at Watford from January 2018 until September 2019, reaching the 2019 FA Cup final but was dismissed after a poor start to the following season. Gracia has also managed Málaga and Russia’s Rubin Kazan among other clubs.

Only last Tuesday Leeds said that Michael Skubala would continue as caretaker for the “upcoming fixtures” but he was given only one more match. The head coach of the