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In a shocking turn of events, Garry Monk has resigned as manager of Leeds United.
The team confirmed the receipt and the acceptance of the resignation on the team’s website.
On Monday, team owner Andrea Radrizzani elected to exercise the club’s option to give Monk a 12-month contract extension with the intent of starting the process of putting a long-term deal in place.
“Mr Radrizzani has met with Garry twice since taking over at Elland Road earlier this week and during the second meeting yesterday it became clear that Garry was considering life beyond Leeds United as at no time did Garry wish to discuss terms for a longer contract,” the team statement read Thursday. “Following that meeting yesterday Garry’s agent requested that the option was not exercised and his resignation was received this morning.”
Leeds United midfielder Ronaldo Vieira has signed a new four-year contract, to the summer of 2021. #lufc
— Phil Hay (@PhilHayYEP) May 24, 2017
Monk came on board last summer to replace Steve Evans and led the Whites to a seventh-place finish — one outside a playoff spot — in the Championship.
Following the end of the season, Monk said he planned to sit down with Radrizzani to talk about his future. Those discussions did not occur until Radrizzani took full control of the team from former co-owner Massimo Cellino.
Following the end of the season — which saw the Whites miss out on the Championship playoffs — Monk was linked to jobs at recently-relegated Middlesbrough and Sunderland along with whispers of Watford. On Monday, Sunderland manager David Moyes resigned and Walter Massani and Watford parted ways last week.
This follows news yesterday that Radrizzani is set to appoint a new technical director for the club and Middlesbrough chief scout Victor Orta is the lead candidate. To add to the Spanish intrigue, former Real Madrid man Ivan Bravo will be the new team director. Angus Kinnear, former West Ham and Arsenal exec, will be Leeds’ new CEO.
Now the search begins for a new boss and questions over just why Monk elected to step down will reign over the next few days. One big question is does Monk already have something else lined up?