Al Nassr are said to have identified the Porto coach as a potential candidate to replace Luis Castro.

According to Saudi news agency @NFC1World, Al Nassr has identified former Porto coach Sergio Conceicao as a candidate to replace Luis Castro if the club’s board decides to fire him.

Conceicao managed 379 matches for Porto, winning 274 of them with a winning percentage of 72.30%. He won a total of 11 trophies, including three Portuguese national championships.

Sergio Conceicao is targeted by Al Nassr for the head coach position (Photo: Getty).

Meanwhile, Castro was appointed as Al Nassr manager last summer, but failed to win any trophies despite signing the likes of Sadio Mane, Otavio and Aymeric Laporte. The Knights of Najd are second in the Saudi Pro League standings with 82 points, 14 points behind rivals Al Hilal, who have gone the entire season unbeaten.

Furthermore, Cristiano Ronaldo and his teammates failed to win the Saudi Arabian Super Cup, AFC Champions League or King’s Cup.

Despite retaining the backing of the board to continue for the 2024/25 campaign, Luis Castro’s side have been extremely poor in pre-season, winning just one of their eight friendlies, drawing three and losing four – including a 4-0 defeat to Porto, and most recently a 3-0 defeat to Almeria.

Luis Castro had a trophyless season at Al Nassr (Photo: Getty).

According to the same source, the Al Nassr management is currently unhappy with Castro due to recent results. He is expected to have one last chance to prove his worth in the Saudi Super Cup, with the Knights of Najd set to face Al-Taawoun in the semi-finals on August 14.

Luis Castro will be feeling the pressure as he tries to get Al Nassr and Cristiano Ronaldo back to winning ways in the Saudi Super Cup semi-final against Al Taawoun. However, according to @NFC1World, Anderson Talisca could return to the squad to give Castro a much-needed boost.