Carlos Corberan linked with West Brom: Career so far, style of play and recent comments

Carlos Corberan is a candidate to replace Steve Bruce at West Brom. The Baggies are weighing up their next managerial appointment and have been linked with a few names this week.

Corberan, who is available following his departure from Olympiacos last month, is currently one of the bookies frontrunners for the vacant position. He is the 3/1 favourite on SkyBet (as of 14.10.22, 13:45), with the likes of Gary Rowett, Leam Richardson, Sean Dyche and Chris Wilder also mentioned in the running.

BBC Sport have reported that West Brom are ‘keen’ to speak to him. They are in action this weekend away at Reading.

Career to date

The 39-year-old was a goalkeeper and was on the books at Valencia as a youngster before deciding to pursue a career in coaching at the age of just 23. He had spells at Villarreal, Alcorcón, Doxa Katokopias and Ermis Aradippou before moving over to England in 2017.

Leeds United appointed him as U23s coach and guided the young Whites team to the Professional Development League title before being promoted to the role of first-team coach under Marcelo Bielsa. He helped the Whites gain promotion to the Premier League before taking the Huddersfield Town job in 2020.

Corberan’s Terriers side struggled in his first campaign in charge and finished in 20th position. However, in his second year he got them to the play-off final against the odds but they lost in the final to Nottingham Forest.

He then resigned over the summer and waited a month before landing another job with Olympiacios. His time in Greece didn’t go to plan though and he was sacked after just two wins in 11 games.

Style of football

Huddersfield had the fourth best defensive record in the Championship last season which suggests Corberan predominantly wanted to keep opponents at bay, which is something that West Brom need. He went back to basics with the Yorkshire club after a tough first 12 months and prioritised not conceding.

If his side stayed in games, they always had a chance of getting a goal and that is exactly what they did by grinding out wins to get them into the top six. Leeds obviously played their high pressure style of play when he was there under Bielsa and that is something that leaked into his Terriers’ team too.

Recent comments

Corberan believes he has unfinished business in England and has recently said on Sky Sports: “My job was not finished because it’s true that when you are very close or you are at Wembley, feeling like you have 90 minutes to achieve something very important.

“When we finished the game, my feeling was clear, I want to come back here again and I want to achieve. I feel like I didn’t finish my job here in England because it was a dream to put a team from the Championship into the Premier League.”