The New York Red Bulls appear to be doing their due diligence regarding the future of their head coach position as the highly-touted Portuguese coach, João Sacramento, has been linked to the MLS club, according to soccer insider Fabrizio Romano.
The 34-year-old had most recently worked alongside fellow Portuguese manager and one of this generation’s most notorious and successful coaches, Jose Mourinho, as an assistant with Tottenham of the English Premier League before following him to Roma.
While he had a contract with the Italian giants until 2024, he left the post in January of 2022 to potentially seek a head-coaching role but joined up with French side Paris Saint-Germain — the former homes of Lionel Messi and Neymar — just six months later. He spent one year in Paris, leaving when new manager Luis Enrique arrived.
Sacramento has catapulted up the ranks of coaching prospects thanks to a strong background in video analysis. He broke in with the Wales national team in 2011 after working as a youth coach and then a scout for Cardiff City before heading to France to join Lille as a video analyst.
After two years with the Ligue 1 side, he worked as a scout with Monaco under Claudio Ranieri before returning to Lille as an assistant manager for the 2016-17 season — a post he held until 2019 when he linked up with Mourinho.
The Red Bulls are in the midst of preparations for the unofficial second half of their 2023 MLS season after bowing out of the Leagues Cup at the quarterfinal stage earlier this month against the Philadelphia Union. After a difficult start to the league campaign, they parted ways with head coach Gerhard Struber and promoted Troy Lesesne from assistant to take over the touchline at Red Bull Arena.
The team has shown improved form under the 39-year-old South Carolina native, going 8-5-5 across 18 games with a plus-3 goal differential.
