Pako Ayestarán

Francisco Martín "Pako" Ayestarán Barandiarán (born 5 February 1963) is a Spanish football manager currently head coach of Primeira Liga side Tondela.

He spent 11 years as assistant to Rafael Benítez at clubs including Valencia and Liverpool. Starting in 2013, he managed as head coach in Mexico, Israel, Portugal, and at Valencia and Las Palmas in La Liga.

Career

Assistant manager

Ayestarán was born in Beasain, Gipuzkoa, and had a short stint as a youth player at Real Sociedad. After starting his career as a fitness coach, he was appointed Rafael Benítez's assistant at Osasuna, and remained behind the manager at Extremadura, Tenerife, Valencia and Liverpool. On 1 September 2007, Ayestarán announced his departure from The Reds after 11 years partnering Benítez. Benítez accused Ayestarán of "betrayal" as Ayestarán "contacted other clubs behind his back" while Ayestarán rejected the accusations, claiming instead that Benítez "forgot his principles".

Ayestarán joined Real Sociedad as sporting director in 2008, but left after a few weeks due to conflicts with the club president. He then served as fitness coach at Benfica[3] and Valencia,[4] leaving the latter in June 2010 for "professional reasons".[5] In mid-2011, Ayestarán was named Quique Sánchez Flores' assistant at Al-Ahli Dubai, but left the club roughly a year later