Guimarães manager Luis Castro turns down big-money move to England

Luis Castro has rejected the chance to become manager of Championship side Reading, saying that now "would not be a good time to leave."

Castro, 57, has been manager of Guimarães since the start of the season, having joined the club from Chaves.

The for Porto manager has overseen something of a revolution at Guimarães, who have conducted shrewd business in the transfer market, bringing in some well-known names such as Andre Andre, João Teixeira, Ola John and Alexandre Guedes to join the likes of Wakaso, Tozé and Celis.

And after a less than spectacular start to the league campaign, Guimarães are finally starting to get things on track, having gone unbeaten in their last seven outings.

As such, they are currently occupying 5th in the league standings, earning the impressive tag of 'best of the rest' in Portugal, sitting only behind the traditional Big Three of Benfica, Porto and Sporting and the high-flying Europa League regulars Braga.

And for his brief but successful work at Guimarães, Luis Castro was offered the chance to make his mark in England, Reading approaching and attempting to entice him to join their project having recently sacked former Bayern Munich and Real Madrid assistant coach Paul Clement. 

The finances of the deal far exceeded Castro's current contract, but the economic benefits proved insufficient to lure the Portuguese coach, who can likely see the clear potential currently in his Guimarães squad and knows they have a good chance of cracking into the Europa League next season.

Reading, on the other hand, currently sit 22nd in England's second tier, a point adrift of safety.

The current Guimaraes stadium. Author: Wagner Bonifacio Leite. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/deed.en