European giants Sevilla have sacked manager Pablo Machin, one day after they were dramatically knocked out of the Europa League by Slavia Prague.
The five-time Europa League winners suffered a 4-3 defeat in the Czech Republic, thanks to Ibrahim Traore’s extra-time goal in the 119th minute, which saw them lose 6-5 on aggregate.
Machin, 43, joined from Girona in May.
Sevilla blamed “a string of poor results in past weeks” for his dismissal after 10 months. The club are sixth in La Liga, five points off the Champions League places.
Since Unai Emery left the club in June 2016 – for Paris St-Germain before his move to Arsenal in 2018 – Sevilla have had four managers.
Director of football Joaquin Caparros will take charge of the team, having managed the side for a month last season when Vincenzo Montella was sacked.
Meanwhile, Sevilla have made contact with Arsenal target Monchi after sacking their head coach Pablo Machin. The former AS Roma sporting director is in high demand after leaving Italy last week and the La Liga outfit are hopeful he will return to Spain.
The Spanish giants have parted ways with 43-year-old manager Machin following their Europa League exit at the hands of Slavia Prague on Thursday evening. Major changes are already being planned by club’s senior officials, and Goal understands an initial approach for their ex-sporting director Monchi has been made.
The Spaniard has been heavily linked with a position at Arsenal since his departure from Roma earlier in March, which would see him reunited with one-time Sevilla boss Unai Emery. However, Los Hispalenses are hopeful of luring Monchi back to the club, two years after he swapped the Ramon Sanchez-Pizjuan Stadium for Stadio Olimpico.
Monchi has a long and proud 17-year history as a director behind him at Sevilla, a role which he inherited shortly after a nine-year career as a player at the club.
The 50-year-old was credited with bringing the likes of Dani Alves, Ivan Rakitic and Seydou Keita to Sevilla, during a successful period which garnered five Europa League titles and two Copa del Rey crowns.
His two-year spell at Roma did not go quite so well, as he came under intense scrutiny for the club’s poor run of results this season along with Eusebio Di Francesco, who himself was dismissed as manager on March 7.
The former goalkeeper has also been linked with a move to Paris Saint Germain recently, but Arsenal were thought to be leading the chase for his services.
The Gunners have reportedly offered Monchi a three-year contract to become the club’s new technical director, with a start date in early April mooted.
Emery will be looking to recruit plenty of fresh faces at Emirates Stadium this summer, but much could depend on whether or not Monchi is available to handle any potential negotiations.