The management of Al-Ittihad Club has finalized its decision regarding the new technical director for the first football team, after reaching a final agreement with Portuguese coach Sergio Conceicao to take over the role, succeeding French coach Laurent Blanc, who was recently dismissed due to declining results.
Al-Ittihad had earlier announced the termination of Blanc’s contract following a series of poor performances, the latest being a 2-0 loss to Al-Nassr in the Saudi Roshn Professional League competitions, which prompted the management to act quickly to hire a coach with a strong personality and a firm technical approach to return the team to competition.
Behind the scenes of choosing Conceicao and excluding Spaletti
Reports revealed that Al-Ittihad’s management had entered into advanced negotiations with Italian coach Luciano Spaletti, even receiving his preliminary approval to coach the team. However, the technical committee at the club decided to backtrack on contracting with him and preferred Conceicao for several reasons.
The reports clarified that the main reason for excluding Spaletti was his lack of proficiency in English, which the technical committee considered an obstacle to effective communication with the players, in addition to their lack of conviction in the Italian coaching style, which has not achieved notable successes in Saudi stadiums in recent years, referring to the experiences of Roberto Mancini with the national team and Stefano Pioli.
The next step
Al-Ittihad’s management is scheduled to announce the official signing with Conceicao in the coming few days, with the coach set to arrive in Jeddah in preparation for his introduction to the media and the start of his journey with the team in the next phase.
Al-Ittihad’s fans hope that Conceicao will be the man capable of restoring the club’s prestige and brilliance in local and continental championships, especially after the shaky start to the current season.
