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Ayestaran confirmed to continue coaching Valencia

Xinhua, May 24, 2016 Adjust font size:

Spanish BBVA Primera Liga club Valencia on Tuesday confirmed that Pako Ayesteran had agreed a deal to remain as the club's first team coach until the end of June 2018.

Ayesteran, who was the assistant to Rafael Benitez at several clubs in which Valencia snatched the Spanish league titles in 2003 and 2004, returned to Valencia as assistant to Gary Neville in early 2016.

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 for a top-six position next season at least.

A poor start would instantly put the pressure on the experienced 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. Enditem