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Mauricio Pellegrino – the Southampton managerial target in profile

By Nikos Lemanis

VALENCIA, SPAIN - NOVEMBER 07: Head coach Mauricio Pellegrino of Valencia looks on from the bench during the UEFA Champions League group F match between Valencia CF and FC BATE Borisov at Estadi de Mestalla on November 7, 2012 in Valencia, Spain. Valencia won 4-2. (Photo by Manuel Queimadelos Alonso/Getty Images)
VALENCIA, SPAIN - NOVEMBER 07: Head coach Mauricio Pellegrino of Valencia looks on from the bench during the UEFA Champions League group F match between Valencia CF and FC BATE Borisov at Estadi de Mestalla on November 7, 2012 in Valencia, Spain. Valencia won 4-2. (Photo by Manuel Queimadelos Alonso/Getty Images) /
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ALCORCON, SPAIN – JANUARY 18: Coach Mauricio Pellegrino of Deportivo Alaves celebrates his team’s opening goal during the Copa del Rey quarter-final match between Agrupacion Deportivo Alcorcon and Deportivo Alaves at Santo Domingo stadium on January 18, 2017 in Alcorcon, Spain. (Photo by Gonzalo Arroyo Moreno/Getty Images)
ALCORCON, SPAIN – JANUARY 18: Coach Mauricio Pellegrino of Deportivo Alaves celebrates his team’s opening goal during the Copa del Rey quarter-final match between Agrupacion Deportivo Alcorcon and Deportivo Alaves at Santo Domingo stadium on January 18, 2017 in Alcorcon, Spain. (Photo by Gonzalo Arroyo Moreno/Getty Images) /

Deportivo Alavés

After being promoted back to La Liga for the first time since 2005/06, Alavés replaced manager José Bordalás with an Argentinian who they felt was better equipped to take them forward in their return to the top stage. Sound familiar…?

As with Southampton’s similar choice a couple of season’s earlier, the decision proved to be well founded and led to Alavés having one of their most successful seasons ever.

The relegation-tipped newcomers achieved a respectable ninth place finish, three places and nine points ahead of Pellegrino’s former club Valencia. They also pulled off a plucky Copa del Rey run, only losing out to Barcelona in the final.

According to Marca, in this cup run the spirit of their famous UEFA Cup final in 2001 was alive, where they lost an epic battle 5-4 to Liverpool.

The Alavés fans must have been disappointed when Pellegrino chose to part ways with the club after only a single season. He stated that his aim at the club was to exorcise the ghost of his single campaign at Alaves as a player in 2005-06, where he was relegated in his final season as a player.

Whether or not this was his only reason for quitting remains unclear.