Madrid - As soon as the Spanish season came to an end on Sunday, the annual "Dance of Coaches" began.

The first team to sign up a new coach was Real Madrid, who have taken Manuel Pellegrini from Villarreal on a lucrative two-year deal.

Villarreal are poised to replace Pellegrini with Ernesto Valverde, the man who took Espanyol to the UEFA Cup final in 2007 and who has just left Greece after guiding Olympiakos Piraeus to the league title.

Two other Spanish coaches keen to return to La Liga are Euro 2008 hero Luis Aragones, sacked on Monday by Turkish giants Fenerbahce, and Benito Floro, also sacked on Monday by Ecuadorian club Barcelona de Guayaquil.

Clubs definitely looking for new coaches include Malaga, where Antonio Tapia quit on Monday, and Racing Santander.

Valencia are considering bringing in a new broom after finishing in disappointing sixth place, but probably do not have the cash to pay off Unai Emery and bring in a replacement.

Barcelona, it goes without saying, are going to continue with Josep Guardiola after the most successful season in their history with a title treble in the Spanish league, Spanish cup and European Champions League.

Sevilla, who finished third, have already extended the contract of Manolo Jimenez for another season. Atletico Madrid will probably do the same with Abel Resino, after winning their last six matches and finishing fourth.

Hugo Sanchez is continuing at Almeria, at least for the time being. The ambitious Mexican has made it clear that he wants to coach a big club, especially Real Madrid sooner rather than later.

On Monday, Getafe, who escaped relegation by the skin of their teeth, announced that Michel, who only took over in April, will continue for two more years.

The same as Hugo Sanchez, Michel was a Real Madrid idol in the 1980s, and will be a candidate for the Real bench in the future, depending on how well Pellegrini performs in the hot Esatdio Bernabeu seat.(dpa)