Mauricio Pellegrino and Frank de Boer on Southampton and Crystal Palace manager shortlists
Southampton and Crystal Palace are close to appointing new managers - with Mauricio Pellegrino and Frank de Boer on both clubs’ final shortlists.
Sky Sports News HQ understands that Palace’s search may be the more advanced, with Pellegrino and De Boer the hot favourites to replace Sam Allardyce at Selhurst Park.
Pellegrino has caught the eye of clubs across Europe after he led Alaves to a ninth-place finish in La Liga and an appearance in the Copa del Rey final.
Southampton are understood to have narrowed their managerial shortlist down to four candidates - with a decision expected this week.
Last week Borussia Dortmund’s highly-rated former manager, Thomas Tuchel, ruled himself out of the vacant manager’s job at St Mary’s.
Former Bayer Leverkusen head coach Roger Schmidt was close to agreeing a deal before choosing a big money role in Beijing.
Julian Nagelsmann was also an early contender, before recently extending his contract at Hoffenheim.
PATRICK Vieira has been installed as one of the bookies’ favourites to replace Claude Puel as Saints manager.
Bookmakers Ladbrokes are considering the Arsenal legend the top choice for the role, offering odds of 6/4.
Mauricio Pellegrino and Frank de Boer, who have been widely tipped for the job, also feature among the popular choices.
The 40-year-old has had a short managerial career, having only retired from a glittering playing career, which saw him win the Premier League and Serie A three times and a World Cup, in 2011.
After hanging up his boots he took a coaching role at Manchester City’s academy and later became manager of their development and reserve team from 2013 to 2015.
Vieira is currently New York City FC’s boss, where he’s been since January last year.
He has previously been interviewed by Newcastle United for the manager’s role in June 2015, but couldn’t come to agreement over recruitment and transfer policy with the St James’ Park outfit.
Saints sacked Puel last week after a year in charge, in which he led the club to an eighth place finish and the League Cup final.
The Premier League is well known for its exciting football and passionate fans.
This combination is deserving of world-class stadiums and in 2017/18 we certainly have a variety, old and new, small and large.
West Ham have completed their first season in the London Stadium, Liverpool and Man City have developed stands and increased capacity while Tottenham are knocking down White Hart Lane and building a new arena from scratch.
The Stadium of Light (Sunderland), KCOM Stadium (Hull City) and Riverside (Middlesbrough) are no longer top-flight grounds after relegation. They are replaced by St James’ Park (Newcastle United), the Amex (Brighton and Hove Albion) and the John Smith’s Stadium (Huddersfield Town) in 2017/18.
It is a topic certain to cause debate, as it often does in talkSPORT towers, and we all have our own ideas and we have ranked each Premier League club stadium, from worst to first.
We take a combination of capacity, facilities, location, history, design and atmosphere, to come up with our top 20.
Starting with Burnley’s Turf Moor, click the right arrow, above, to see our ranking and comment with your thoughts below…
Aston Villa full-back Jordan Amavi has confirmed he wants to leave the club this summer amid continued interest from Liverpool and Southampton.
The 23-year-old joined Villa from Nice in 2015 but had his first season in England blighted by a long-term injury – and the Birmingham club were relegated.
Amavi played 34 times in the Championship this season but has now revealed that he wants to move back to a top-flight club when the window opens.
Liverpool were keen on signing the 23-year-old left-back last summer while Southampton have also held an interest in him since Villa were relegated.
And Amavi says a move back into the Premier League would appeal to him.
He told L’Equipe: "I want to play in Europe, in a club that plays on all fronts.
"There are clubs that come to ask and we discuss it even if there is nothing concrete yet.
"I love the Premier League, it’s a Championship that I like, but I’m open to other countries.
“If the sporting challenge is interesting, I will go ahead, I will not think.”
That is the top prize in our new competition, which is asking you to name your favourite heroic Saints moment.
It follows on from our hugely successful launch video that revealed our latest Under Armour kits, as a selection of Southampton players were turned into animated superheroes.
Your choice could be an iconic on-pitch moment you witnessed or another favourite memory of being a Saints fan.
All you have to do is tweet us with your moment using #MadeForHeroes, and we will pick two winners at random for the following prizes:
– 1st prize: A signed home shirt and a VIP tour of Staplewood Campus.
– 2nd prize: Two President’s Lounge tickets for Saints’ opening game of the Premier League season, at home to Swansea.
The competition is open until 5pm on Tuesday 27th June. Full terms and conditions can be found by clicking here.
| Saints Have West Ham Away Fixture Reversed | Saints have reversed their fixture with West Ham United, however this could have repercussions later in the season … 19-06-2017 |
SAINTS have just released an 80s throwback home shirt and, because of the recent kit launch, we want to hear about your favourites from down the years.
There have been some decent shirts but also some pretty questionable ones too, so let us know where they rank.
We’ve posted a gallery at the top of the page to trigger some memories of the oldies and some more recent kits.
Comment below and tell us about your favourite Saints shirts.
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