An “ambitious” manager is now leading the race to replace Steve Cooper after holding Leicester City talks, according to a new report.
The Foxes are looking for their third manager in over 18 months, as the club announced the dismissal of Cooper on Sunday.
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It has been an inconsistent start to the campaign for Leicester, as they started it by picking up a decent point at home to Tottenham Hotspur. But they then suffered poor defeats against sides that would be in and around them in the table, and that started to put the pressure on Cooper.
The Foxes are winless in their last five games in all competitions, and they have only won two games in the league, and they came at the beginning of October against Bournemouth and Southampton. Former Leicester player Matt Piper believes the timing to sack Cooper is “strange” and hopes they resolve it soon.
He said: “What I’m most shocked about is the really strange timing. The more I think of it, it’s such strange timing; you get beat by Man Utd (3-0), and it’s the worst performance of the season by a country mile – we just didn’t turn up.
“Then you’ve got a two-week international break, you leave the manager in, you get beat by Chelsea, and then you sack him. It’s strange timing – I can understand that timeline if they think, ‘right we’ve got to move Steve on,’ but they’ve spoken to someone else, and they’re ready to go – then it makes sense.
“But, the club have come out and said that’s not the case. We did this before, and it bit us on the backside. I hope they’ve not gone down that line again, because the last time we did that it didn’t work out well at all.”
The search for Cooper’s replacement could be over sooner rather than later, as there is now a new leader in the race.
Ruud van Nistelrooy leading race to replace Cooper after Leicester talks
According to Football Insider, Ruud van Nistelrooy is now closing in on becoming Leicester City’s new manager after holding talks with the club. The Foxes are just a couple of days into their search for a new manager, and they may be hoping to have an appointment before their game against Brentford on the weekend.
Van Nistelrooy, who has been described as “very ambitious and very driven” by Erik ten Hag, is currently out of work after leaving Manchester United a couple of weeks ago. The Dutchman returned to Old Trafford in the summer to join Ten Hag’s coaching staff, and then he found himself as interim manager after Ten Hag’s sacking.
The 48-year-old won three of his four games in charge, two of which came against Leicester, but Ruben Amorim decided he wanted to have his own staff in place as he took over. That spell at United has seemingly put Van Nistelrooy back on the football map, and Bundesliga 2 side Hamburger SV are interested in appointing him as their new manager, but he also has interest from Leicester.
Games
152
Won
79
Drawn
34
Lost
39
The Foxes have held talks with Van Nistelrooy, as they are aware of interest from Germany, and that has now put him as the favourite ahead of David Moyes and Graham Potter, who have also been linked with the vacant role. The Leicester job may be a more appealing offer over Hamburg for the Dutchman, given he can remain working in the Premier League.