Leeds United have appointed Javi Gracia as their new head coach at Elland Road as the 52-year-old signs on a flexible contract.
Leeds announced on Tuesday afternoon that terms had been agreed with Gracia to become their new manager following Jesse Marsch's dismissal more than two weeks ago.
The 52-year-old has signed on a "flexible contract" and the club hope that he will be in the dugout for their vital Premier League clash with Southampton at Elland Road on Saturday afternoon.
Former Watford manager Gracia will try to revitalise a struggling Leeds side that hasn't won a Premier League game since early November. Having slipped into the relegation zone for the first time this season, times are tough for Whites fans but Gracia has proven to take capable teams far in the past.
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We have put together a profile on the new Leeds manager and you can find out all you need to know about Gracia, below.
Who is he?
Gracia started his playing career at Athletic Bilbao's reserve team, before helping Lleda return to La Liga following a 40-year absence in 1993.
The former defensive midfielder spent six seasons in the Spanish top-flight at Real Valladolid and Real Sociedad respectively.
He then returned to the second-tier and immediately won promotion back to La Liga at Villarreal. Gracia drew the curtain on his playing days at Cordoba, and amassed 229 top-flight appearances across a career spanning 15 years.
The Spaniard launched his coaching career in Villarreal's youth system until accepting his first managerial role at third-tier Pontevedra.
Gracia transformed Pontevedra into promotion challengers but he narrowly fell short during his two seasons at the helm. He eventually achieved promotion with Cadiz in 2009 but was sacked the following season as they went onto suffer relegation back to the third-tier.
After returning to Villarreal, Gracia had brief spells with Olympiakos Volou and Kerkyra in Greece, before returning to Spain with Osasuna.
His one season at Osasuna resulted in relegation but he remained in La Liga with Malaga. He guided them to top half finishes in each of his two seasons in charge.
Gracia spent a season in Russia at Rubin Kazan and then replaced Marco Silva as Watford boss after several months out of work. He finished his only full season at Vicarage Road in 11th place and also inspired them to their first FA Cup final in 35 years.
They subsequently lost 6-0 against Manchester City at Wembley, and as is often the case at Watford, Gracia was sacked after a poor start to the following campaign.
Since leaving Watford, Gracia lasted less than a year in charge of Valencia, before winning the Qatar Stars League during his brief stint at Al Sadd.
What's been said about him?
Transfer expert Fabrizio Romano has claimed that there are already ongoing talks between the Spaniard and the Whites, with the club set to make an 'internal decision' soon.
The Italian journalist also noted that Gracia is a 'serious candidate' for the role, and is on a shortlist with just one other name for the Elland Road job.
One of his former teammates at Real Sociedad Ricardo Sa Pinto claims that he's not a manager that gets angry with his players and instead prefers to educate them.
"There is one thing that surprises me: he’s not someone who moans, who would seek conflict. There’s an educational element to coaching and you come across players who think they know it all, who you tell 30 times and eventually you have to be hard with them.
"I didn’t see that in him. But in a world that’s not logical, without balance, he was balanced and that can help."
Esteban, a goalkeeper who played under Gracia during his tenure at Almeria, also highlighted the Spaniard's knack for solving the problems rather than pointing out more ones and noted that he'll always come into a club with a project in mind.
"He had one thing above all: a plan. He was very clear tactically. You always knew here your team-mate was and he got the best from everyone.
"He focused less on the errors we made than on the solutions he could find. All my ‘clearances’ would reach Soriano. People watched and thought it was lucky but it wasn’t luck. I didn’t know Javi at all before and I was hugely impressed."
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