Why Leeds Should Consider Replacing Garry Monk With Aitor Karanka
Since Garry Monk’s resignation from his managerial post at Leeds United, talk of former Middlesbrough boss Aitor Karanka replacing him as been rife.
The Spaniard’s tenure at Boro divides people; though surely overall you would have to call it a success? Boro, like any other side, have no divine right to be in the Premier League and so their relegation after he left should not tarnish Karanka’s reputation.
His previous experience as an assistant coach at Real Madrid means he has hit the big time before and would like to taste it again as head coach, meaning he needs to pick his next job carefully. The jury is out on whether Leeds, as a club and as a squad, have what it takes to go up next season and surely that will be in the forefront of his mind.
Karanka oversaw 169 matches at Boro, a club that is in a similar position to that of Leeds. Including his tough debut season as a Premier League boss, he averaged 1.66 points per game which is an excellent stat. His tenure as Boro boss saw them promoted from the Championship and having been there, he knows what is needed from a squad to get them out of this league.
Is the formula all a bit too easy though; hire a manager who was promoted a year ago and he’ll do the same again? I would say it is. Certainly it is convenient for Karanka himself; presumably living not a million miles away from Leeds already and looking for a job. The timing seems perfect, though these things are rarely so simple in football.
Even a good coach needs a quality squad of players at his disposal to gain promotion, and who is to say that anyone else could have done a better job than Monk last term? Leeds were a long way off going up automatically and that is with the abundance of talent they had – Taylor, Bartley, Jansson and others.
When Boro were promoted as Championship runners-up in 2015/16, Karanka had at his disposal Ben Gibson, Adam Clayton, Stewart Downing, and Tomas Kalas to name a few, plus Jordan Rhodes could not get into their team after arriving. That’s quite a line-up and frankly, there is no guarantee that he will have the same sort of quality available to him when Leeds’ season kicks off in August.
Nevertheless, Leeds should consider appointing Karanka in the place of Garry Monk.
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