Mourinho was best case for us (and anyone considering he’s the best manager around on paper).
Marco should’ve gone when he had “3 games to save his job”, and we should’ve thrown whatever it took at Jose.
Now that we’ve dithered and missed out on him there are less obvious options around but my picks would be the below (in no particular order, based on ability).
Experienced options:
Jorge Jesus has just won the Libertadores (South American Champions League) as well as the Brazilian top division in his first season managing in Brazil with Flamengo.
This isn’t a one off either, he won a number of league titles with Benfica in the last decade and took them to back to back Europe League finals.
He’s 65 but is a real winner and knows how to blood in youngsters. Considering the young side we have, he could turn our young players into stars. He’d bring stability as well as a top coaching set up.
He’d have us punching above our weight and in the worst case improve us for a couple of years until BMD is in place. Tactically he’s one of the best around and doesn’t stick to one formation like managers we’ve had for years.
Rafael Benitez.. not a popular man in these parts and the thought of him managing us makes me cringe. On paper though, he’s done it all. Won leagues, won European titles, made a team hard to beat, won huge games, motivated his players.
He’s a known quality so not much needs to be said. Unlikely as he splits opinion too much. I’d genuinely prefer him over Moyes and Hughes though.
Marcelino is another experienced option who has more recently led Valencia to consecutive top 4 finishes and was sacked after a poor start to the season. He plays 4-4-2 but with one of the strikers dropping deeper at times.
Despite never managing outside of Spain, he’s shown that he can turn an average side into one challenging the top teams.
Considering the talent in our squad it’s obvious we could suddenly start playing well with the right manager and he could be a great realistic option especially as he wouldn’t cost any compensation.
Poch would be a dream manager for us and is available, but there’s no chance considering how high his stock is. I’d like to see us go for him and throw big money and a transfer budget to see if he’d fancy the challenge.
Younger managers:
Marcelo Gallardo could be a really interesting option for us and is currently River Plate’s manager. To go along with the Jorge Jesus shout, he won last season’s Libertadores and lost the final to Jorge’s side this season.
At just 43 years old, getting to the final in consecutive seasons is a huge achievement and it won’t be long until he gets a chance in Europe. There’s loads of talk that Barcelona want him as their next manager, but with the likes of Koeman also being tipped for it I’d like to see us be ambitious and take the initiative for once.
Julian Nagelsmann is the next big German coaching talent and managed to get Hoffenheim into the top 3, moving onto an ambitious RB Leipzig side afterwards.
He’s been tipped to be on Bayern’s radar but with the money we could offer, we could snap him up for a couple of seasons until Bayern come calling. He’s only 32!
