MY ACCOUNT
Al Nassr showed Rudi Garcia the door on Thursday and handed little-known Croatian Dinko Jelicic the chance to boss Cristiano Ronaldo in the Saudi Pro League.
Roma head coach Jose Mourinho had been linked with a possible Ronaldo reunion, having coached the Portuguese at Real Madrid.
Spanish newspaper AS this week claimed Mourinho had been offered a two-year contract worth €100million.
For now at least, Al Nassr have put Jelicic in charge, promoting him from his position in charge of their under-19 team.
The Riyadh-based club said: “Al Nassr can announce that head coach Rudi Garcia has left the club by mutual agreement.
“The board and everyone at Al Nassr would like to thank Rudi and his staff for their dedicated work during the past 8 months.
“We can announce that our U19 coach, Mr Dinko Jelicic will be the new head coach for the first team. Good luck, Mr Dinko.”
Frenchman Garcia was a Ligue 1 winner as head coach of Lille in 2010-11 and the 59-year-old has also bossed Roma, Marseille and Lyon.
He was appointed in late June last year and departs with Al Nassr sitting second in the Pro League with seven games remaining, three points behind leaders Al Ittihad, to whom they lost last month.
Ronaldo’s arrival as a free agent after his release by Manchester United was announced in late December, and the 38-year-old superstar has drawn unprecedented attention to the league.
Real Madrid’s record scorer spent three seasons playing under fellow Portuguese Mourinho at the Santiago Bernabeu from 2010 to 2013, and it remains to be seen whether they are reacquainted in the future.
Jelicic gets the chance to lead the team for now, and he may make the job his own.
Should Al Nassr fall short of overhauling Al Ittihad, however, they may have reason to think again, and it could prove less disruptive to prise away a top coach of Mourinho’s ilk during the close season rather than at the business end.
