The Spaniard is set to leave the ISL following two seasons in India.
Josep Gombau has chosen not to extend his contract with Indian Super League (ISL) outfit Odisha FC.
The Spanish coach was brought in by Delhi Dynamos in 2018 prior to the group shifted bases to Bhubaneshwar and rechristened themselves as Odisha FC in 2019. However, the two-year institution is set to end in front of the upcoming season.
Sources close to the development told that the team favored the former FC Barcelona youth trainer to continue his job at Odisha FC. However, the 43-year-old chose to step away in pursuit of a brand new challenge.
Delhi Dynamos (in 2018-19) and Odisha FC (2019-20) were proven to play a possession-based, eye-catching brand of soccer under Gombau. However, the 1 criticism he always had in the club was the lack of consistency in outcomes and the fact he couldn’t mastermind results against the top teams in the league.
The team failed to reach the playoffs in both seasons. However, they seemed set to make the top-four from the recently concluded season, just for injuries to key players and irregularities with their home venue to interfere with their bidding.
However, Gombau always stuck to his philosophy of giving kids an opportunity to develop themselves and is widely credited for the development of talents like Nandhakumar Sekar, Shubham Sarangi, Jerry Mawihmingthanga, Vinit Rai among others.
The team were in favour of maintaining their trust in Gombau to the upcoming season as well just for the Spaniard himself to call time on his India sojourn. It’ll be interesting to find out that Odisha opt to take over from Gombau.
The question is whether the club will need someone who can continue what Gombau started or will they opt for a new strategy entirely.
