General manager Jorge Valdano parts company with Real Madrid

Real Madrid have announced that Jorge Valdano will no longer continue in his role as the club’s general manager.
In a quickly arranged press conference on Wednesday evening, the Spanish giants confirmed their decision not to allow the 55-year-old to carry on working at the Santiago Bernabeu.
The decision was taken during a meeting of the club’s board of directors, with reports in the Spanish media suggesting that Valdano and Madrid president Florentino Perez held a meeting this afternoon.
"We have decided to end the contractual relationship with Jorge Valdano," Perez said at the press conference. "I want to stress how painful the departure of Jorge Valdano is to me. We have traveled a long distance together.”
Valdano played for Madrid as a striker during the 1980s and also coached the first team in the 1990s, winning the Primera Division title in 1994-95. The former Argentina international was the club’s sporting director between 2000 and 2004 during Perez’s first spell as the president, and was appointed the general manager in June 2009.