Spanish La Liga club Valencia has appointed Javi Gracia as their new first-team coach until the end of June 2022.
“I’m very happy to be at this great club, in this beautiful city. I’m looking forward to getting to work. We’re going through what is a difficult time for everybody, in which health is the most important thing, but as professionals of course we are thinking about football,” Gracia was quoted as saying by club’s website on Monday.
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“We want our work to help people to feel better in some way. Personally, I’m very proud to be coaching a club like Valencia CF.
The 50-year-old said he wanted to see “the great squad that we have be a brave, aggressive and balanced team”.
“We all like to talk about attacking football but the success of a team comes through its balance and we will try to do that with the great squad and excellent players that we have.
“For me, as coach, the most important thing isn’t the idea that the fans have of me right now, without knowing much about me. What is really important to me is the opinion of the fans when I leave -which is when they really know you,” he added.
Gracia has a lot of coaching experience in his homeland after spells with Malaga, Osasuna, Almeria and Cadiz.
