Former Manchester United assistant manager Chris Armas has opened up on why he did not end up joining the coaching staff of Jesse Marsch at Leeds United. Armas was heavily linked with taking the role as assistant at the Whites but opted against taking the job and instead returned to his native America.
The know each other well from their time together at Red Bull Salzburg, where Armas was also the assistant to Marsch. Following his decision not to move to Elland Road, Leeds moved quickly to secure Armas’ alternative last week as they brought in the highly rated former Borussia Dortmund assistant Rene Maric to link-up with Marsch and the rest of his staff.
Speaking on the Crack Podcast, Armas revealed that it was actually Leeds-linked former Manchester United midfielder Juan Mata who was pushing Victor Orta into pursuing him. He revealed, however, that the right decision for him and his family was to return to the USA and try become a manager again.
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“Juan Mata’s telling the sporting director of Leeds, ‘Chris is an amazing coach, and a good person, hire him immediately’. They (Leeds) are telling me this. That’s the respect I know you earn.
“I had a chance to join Jesse Marsch and Leeds and I decided to come home. I made a decision with my family that this was the best thing for us right now. I could have stayed over there. I think the next step for me is to be in MLS to be a head coach again.”
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