Former Swansea City boss Garry Monk has been appointed as Leeds United’s head coach.
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Evans was told he would be given a new deal beyond the end of the season if he kept Leeds in the Championship – something he did easily – but he was then left in limbo by Cellino who went weeks without contacting the former Rotherham boss.
“This is definitely the right challenge for me and I’m really happy to be here”.
Sportsmail revealed Cellino told close friends on Monday night that he believeed Monk will become the club’s new manager.
The former Swansea boss has been out of work since leaving the Liberty Stadium in December past year following an 18-month spell in charge.
Cellino had reportedly targeted Bristol Rovers boss Darrell Clarke and MK Dons manager Karl Robinson for the position but his advances were rejected.
The Championship club have been in talks with Monk since the dismissal of Steve Evans was confirmed earlier this week.
Evans guided the club to 13th in the Championship but did not have his contract renewed by the Italian. “I believe he’s very suited to continuing the growth of our young and improving team”.
“He was a fighter as a player and now he is the same as a manager, as we saw when he did very well at Swansea City”, he said. It is a big challenge but Garry is very determined and he trusts himself with this job – he really wanted to come here.
“We want to achieve promotion to the Premier League”.
That contract was not forthcoming, though, and after a three-week wait to learn his fate – a time during which owner Massimo Cellino interviewed other people for his role – he was let go. Cellino announced a fortnight ago – not for the first time – he wanted to sell the club.
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Cellino was recently charged by the Football Association over an alleged breach of its agent regulations, while he has also served a Football League ban for tax evasion.
