Corberan outrage: Valencia legend rages at what he’s heard about West Brom boss
Santiago Canizares believes Valencia’s impending appointment of West Brom boss Carlos Corberan is a “high-risk operation”.
The Spaniard will end his two-year spell at The Hawthorns after Valencia activated his £2.8 million release clause [Fabrizio Romano] and will sign with the La Liga outfit in the next 24 hours with the Baggies also looking to make a swift appointment [DOOD].
However, former Valencia goalkeeper Canizares has cast doubt over the move and took to X [24 December] to express his concern about paying a release clause for a boss with no prior managerial experience in Spain.
Writing: “Back to the sporting side of things… giving him a 2.5-year contract and paying a severance payment to his club of origin in order to entrust the team’s salvation to a coach with, with all due respect, zero experience in La Liga; that is a high-risk operation…
“This does not leave me at peace regarding the hypothetical and desired new executive, if there were one…
“I hope it turns out well, but it is far from the natural criteria…”
West Brom boss Carlos Corberan can be a success at Valencia
While Canizares is justified in his scepticism, Corberan is taking a huge risk switching the Championship for the Spanish top flight.
Corberan has performed a remarkable job in the West Midlands and was on track to secure a second consecutive playoff berth with the Baggies level on points with sixth-place Middlesbrough heading into Christmas.
Valencia, on the other hand, are rooted in the relegation zone in La Liga and have wasted no time replacing Ruben Baraja, who was dismissed on Monday after only two league wins in 17 outings [BBC Sport, 23 December].
Furthermore, Valencia announced that they had cleared all the outstanding debt at the club to leave Corberan with a clean financial slate to embark on a monumental rebuilding job.
However, the six-time Spanish champions are not the most attractive side to manage, and Canizares should appreciate that Corberan is willing to leave the love of the West Brom faithful to take on the challenge.
For the Baggies, recently departed Southampton boss Russell Martin is on the list of potential replacements [Chris Lepkowski], but one eye will undoubtedly be in Spain to watch Corberan make Canizares eat his words.
In other West Brom news, the Baggies have been told to hire an ex-PL boss after shock manager news at The Hawthorns.
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