Ayesteran to continue coaching Valencia

Spanish football club Valencia on Tuesday confirmed that Pako Ayesteran has agreed to a deal to remain as the chief coach till June-end, 2018.

Ayesteran, who was the assistant to Rafael Benitez during the club's La Liga winning campaigns in 2003 and 2004, returned to Valencia as assistant to Gary Neville in early 2016, reports Xinhua.

However, when Neville was sacked by Valencia, in danger of relegation, at the end of March Ayesteran was named as the club's third coach of the season and led them to safety with wins over Sevilla, Barcelona and Eibar.

Although the original deal was until the end of the campaign, that success has been enough to earn Ayesteran a new two-year-contract.

However, Ayesteran will be under no illusions as to the difficulty of the task which lies ahead of him as the Valencia owner and its demanding fans will be looking at least for a top-six position next season.

A poor start would instantly put the pressure on the 53-year-old coach who will have to work hard to restore the confidence in the squad which seriously underperformed this campaign and whose owner Peter Lim has shown he is not a man with a great deal of patience.

--IANS

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