Villarreal have become the first club to sack their manager in La Liga this season dismissing Quique Setien after just four matches, which have seen the Yellow Submarine pick up one win and three defeats.
Setien was appointed in October of last season, and was on the brink of the sack just five games into his tenure, before turning things around. His job security came into question again last March, and despite a disappointing Europa Conference League exit to Anderlecht, he led Villarreal to a fifth-place finish, having taken over with them ninth.
President Fernando Roig had given him a contract for two years, but he will not make the 12-month mark after defeats to Real Betis, Barcelona and Cadiz put paid to his job.
𝗖𝗢𝗠𝗨𝗡𝗜𝗖𝗔𝗗𝗢 𝗢𝗙𝗜𝗖𝗜𝗔𝗟: Quique Setién
El entrenador cántabro deja de pertenecer al Villarreal CF pic.twitter.com/7LK4HiAJWi
— Villarreal CF (@VillarrealCF) September 5, 2023
Villarreal have announced that Miguel Angel Tena, Director of Football, will take interim charge of the position while they look for a new manager.
Setien is said to have had differences with several heavyweights in the dressing room throughout his tenure, with some senior figures asking Roig for action just weeks after he was appointed. In particular, Dani Parejo has admitted that his relations with Setien were never the best, while the likes of Etienne Capoue and Raul Albiol have seen their roles reduced.
Setien was always fighting a losing battle here imo,villarreal are a fantastic club but they sold alot of their best players this year like samuel chukwueze,pau torres,nicolas jackson ect and never replaced them properly with players of a similar or better quality,very similar to what happened with julen lopetegui at the end of his spell at sevilla when they sold jules kounde,diego carlos ect and didn’t properly replace them either.