Denmark legend Michael Laudrup has stepped down as coach of Mallorca, the Spanish top-flight side confirmed on Wednesday.
Laudrup took over at the club in the summer of 2010, and while they only narrowly avoided relegation last season, they have won two of their opening five league matches of this campaign, including a 2-1 defeat of Real Sociedad on Sunday.
"It hurts me to leave because I got on very well with the team and all of the backroom staff, but for the good of the team and the club this is the best solution," Laudrup, 47, said in a statement on the official Mallorca website.
"I will continue to follow the team and I hope that everything goes well. I want to thank the players, the supporters and the staff at the club."
Laudrup took his decision following the sacking of his assistant Erik Larson after quotes appeared in the Danish press in which he criticised the Mallorca president Lorenzo Serra Ferrer.
No successor has been lined up for Laudrup.
Names being linked with the position in the Spanish media include former Athletic Bilbao coach Joaquin Caparros and former national team boss Luis Aragones, who has already had two previous spells in charge of the holiday island club.
In the meantime, former Mallorca and Barcelona defender Miguel Angel Nadal will lead the side into this weekend's game away to Osasuna.
Laudrup, who won over 100 caps for Denmark in a playing career that saw him star for both Barcelona and Real Madrid, has previously worked as a coach at Brondby, Getafe and Spartak Moscow.
Source: AFP
