Real Sociedad have announced the appointment of Jagoba Arrasate as first team Coach to replace Philippe Montanier.
The club called a Press conference for Friday afternoon, with speculation mounting that former France head Coach Laurent Blanc may have agreed to step in to the position.
However, President Jokin Aperribay has presented Arrasate as the team’s new Coach, in what will be his debut role at senior level.
“Jagoba Arrasate will be the next Coach, he is right to continue the strategic line marked out for many years,” began Aperribay to reporters today.
“When Montanier closed the door [on staying], we thought of two names – [Newell’s Old Boys Coach Gerardo] ‘Tata’ Martino and Jagoba Arrasate.
“We believe that we will begin next season without doubts and with a perfect understanding of what we have.
“It is not a gamble, we want to continue with the same sporting line. It is the right moment for him to take on that responsibility.
“Jagoba has the absolute inner knowledge of La Real and he meets the characteristics that we were looking for.
“The players have known for two or three week that we were talking with Jagoba.”
Having impressed coaching the juvenil A and then B teams in consecutive single seasons, Arrasate joined La Real’s first-team set-up last summer to become a member of Montanier’s backroom staff and to assist in all aspects of his management.
Reports are that the club see the 35-year-old as having offered a crucial contribution to last season’s midseason turnaround that eventually earned the team a fourth place finish in La Liga.
