Spaniard linked with Swansea City managerial role

Managerial links are likely to be a daily occurrence as the Swans search for Russell Martin’s replacement starts in earnest and a new name has been linked today, a very unfamiliar one no doubt in the shape of Óscar García Junyent.

The name was linked by well respected journalist Fabrizio Romano who says that the Swans are one of a few Championship clubs linked with the manager who, Romano says has the hallmarks of “possession football and developing youngsters.”

Both of those last lines would certainly be of interest to the Swans and it was something that Russell Martin often talked about during his time in SA1.

Óscar García Junyent, ready for a new challenge. Former Barça player is being monitored by several Championship clubs, including Swansea City. 🔴🇪🇸

French & Belgium clubs also interested in the head coach, whose hallmarks are possession football & developing youngsters. pic.twitter.com/gORBkXETku

— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) May 25, 2023

So who is Óscar García Junyent?

So, taken from Wikipedia “Óscar García Junyent (born 26 April 1973), known simply as Óscar as a player, is a Spanish former professional footballer, currently a manager.

“He was a versatile attacking option as a player, able to feature as an attacking midfielder or a second striker. He spent most of his 14-year professional career with Barcelona, with relative impact, appearing for four other clubs.

“In La Liga, Óscar amassed totals of 169 matches and 31 goals over 12 seasons, also representing Espanyol (four years), Albacete, Lleida and Valencia (one apiece). He started working as a manager in 2009, winning league titles in Israel and Austria.”

He also spent the 2013/14 season at Brighton as a replacement for Gus Poyet.   He led the Seagulls to the play off semi finals and was November’s manager of the month before resigning at the end of that season following their defeat to Derby in the play-offs.

He also spent some time as Watford manager (who hasn’t?) a year later but had to step down with health conditions.

Further managerial stints have seen him at Red Bull Salzburg, Saint-Etienne, Olympiacos, Celta and most recently Reims where he was sacked last October.

His overall managerial record shows 137 wins from 295 games although maybe a more telling statistic is the one that says his longest spell is 73 games in charge at Red Bull (although just 10 defeats in that run tells a pretty impressive story) including two league and cup double wins.

Our view on this one is that Romano is not in the habit of being hugely uninformed in matters like this and whilst there may be plenty of competition here it could be a fit that works well for us.

Time will tell.