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Talking Point

Meet Ruben, Enzo and Xavi - Pellegrini's Coaching Team

Ruben Cousillas

Born in Roque Perez, Argentina, the 61-year-old was a goalkeeper who came through the youth system at San Lorenzo, playing for the Buenos-Aires-based club between 1977 and 1987. He moved to Millonarios in Bogota, with whom he won three Colombian titles, before returning to Argentina with Mandiyu. He played for Velez Sarsfield in 1989/90 and Argentinos Juniors in 1990/91 before closing his playing career in Chile with Huachipato.

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Cousillas began his career as a coach for Talleres de Cordoba, before returning to former club Argentinos Juniors. Cousillas returned to another former club, San Lorenzo, in 1998 to become assistant to Oscar Ruggeri. When Ruggeri was replaced by Manuel Pellegrini, Cousillas began a working partnership with the Chilean which saw him follow the new Hammers boss to River Plate, before moving to Spain where they teamed up at Villareal, Real Madrid and Malaga. Pellegrini and Cousillas won the Argentine Primera Division Clausura and the Copa Mercosur with San Lorenzo in 2001. They again won the Argentine Primera Division Clausura in 2003 with River Plate and also came runner-up in the Copa Sudamericana in the same year. They won the InterToto Cup with Villarreal.

In June 2013, Cousillas joined Pellegrini at Manchester City as co-assistant, alongside Brian Kidd. He won the Premier League in 2014 and the League Cup in 2014 and 2016. When Pellegrini left the Etihad in June 2016 on the expiry of his contract, Cousillas also left along with the remainder of Pellegrini’s staff. Pellegrini and Cousillas teamed up again at Hebei China Fortune before joining the Hammers earlier this summer. Cousillas’ title at West Ham United is that of Assistant Coach.

Enzo Maresca

Enzo Maresca is Pellegrini’s Second Assistant Coach. He is a 38-year-old former midfielder who won 15 caps for Italy Under-21, and also played for his country at Under-15, Under-16, Under-17, Under-18 and Under-20 levels. He was born in Salerno and started his professional career at West Brom, making his debut in September 1998 and playing 47 matches in the second tier of English football before moving back to his homeland with a switch to Juventus in January 2000. The fee of £4.3m was the Baggies’ record sale at the time.

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Maresca spent season-long loan spells with Bologna and Piacenza before a permanent move to Fiorentina in the summer of 2004. A hard-working and creative midfielder, Maresca joined Sevilla a year later and spent four seasons in Spain, winning five major trophies – two UEFA Cups, the Copa del Rey, the UEFA Super Cup and the Supercopa de Espana. He scored twice in the 2006 UEFA Cup Final victory over Middlesbrough where he was made Man of the Match, donating the €10k prize money to the San Juan de Dios hospital in Seville.

Maresca moved to Greek football with Olympiakos in 2009. He returned to Spain in January 2011, signing for Manuel Pellegrini’s Malaga. He helped Malaga qualify for the Champions League in his only full season with the club, 2011/12, before returning to Italy where he signed for Sampdoria and played alongside Pedro Obiang. He dropped down a division to Serie B, signing for Palermo in January 2014. He moved to Verona in 2016 and retired from playing on 10th February 2017, his 37th birthday.

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His coaching career began as assistant coach at Ascoli in the summer of 2017 but he left before the year was out to become assistant manager to Vincenzo Montella at former club Sevilla in December 2017 (Maresca is pictured above, on the left, with Montella). The club would win only five league matches in Montella’s four months in charge but would reach the Copa del Rey Final, where they were thrashed 5-0 by Barcelona. They also knocked Manchester United out of the Champions League before being defeated by Bayern Munich in the quarter-finals. Maresca left Sevilla to join Pellegrini at West Ham earlier this summer.

Xavi Valero

Castellon-born Valero is West Ham’s new Goalkeeping Coach – he started his playing career at Castellon in 1995 before moving to Mallorca in 1996. He played one game for the club before moving to Logrones in 1997 and experiencing more regular second-tier football before the club were relegated to the fourth tier for not paying its players at the end of the 1999/2000 season. The goalkeeper returned to third-tier Castellon in 2000.

Valero moved to second-tier Murcia in 2002 – the club won promotion to La Liga in 2002/03 but Valero made only three appearances during the season. He signed for Cordoba, again in the second tier, but only made four appearances for the club. He returned to Murcia in 2004 but didn’t play a game. Valero signed for a short spell with Wrexham in 2005 to improve his English, which he learnt at the University of Castellon – he played four matches in League One for the Welsh club. He returned to Spain, playing two games each for Recreativo de Huelva and Gramenet before retiring from playing in 2007.

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Rafael Benítez appointed Valero as Goalkeeping Coach at Liverpool in July 2007. Valero was praised by former Liverpool striker Fernando Torres who stated that, during training, Valero instructed the players on how goalkeepers they would meet in upcoming games react to one-on-one situations. Valero teamed up with Benitez again at Inter Milan in June 2010 but left the club after Benitez was sacked six months later. He also worked with Benitez at Napoli (2013-15) and Real Madrid (June 2015-January 2016). The 45-year-old joined Pellegrini’s West Ham earlier this summer.

Welcome to all three, and good luck.

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