The era of Marcelo Gallardo toAl Ittihad is officially over. Was Louay Nazerelected new president of the Saudi club, to announce the dismissal of the Argentine coach: “Gallardo made important mistakes in asking for Benzema’s dismissal, which is unacceptable”, the words taken from Brand in the first press conference.
The fact. The episode with the former Real Madrid striker and Ballon d’Or winner refers to the round of 16 of the Asian Champions League. Coach Gallardo could only call up five non-Asian players and decided to call up the Egyptian Ahmed Hegazy, the Brazilians Fabinho and Romarinho, the Moroccan striker Abderrazak Hamdallah and the Frenchman N’Golo Kanté. There was no room for Karime TheDream. A cut that at the end of January the former River Plate coach had highlighted by deciding to ban the French player from training with the rest of the group in Dubai as a disciplinary measure.
An exit worth its weight in gold. Al Ittihad is now preparing to greet Gallardo with a agreement that will mark the world of football: approx 30 million dollars to terminate the 48-year-old’s contract, which ran until June 30, 2025. The reason? The coach has not “given up” on the year of his contract and the dismissal will cost the Saudi club dearly. Damage on top of insult, given that Gallardo had already received the news of his dismissal three days before the end of the Saudi Pro League (after being beaten by Ettifaq), remaining until the end of the tournament because there was no agreement on the aforementioned severance pay.