Ronald Koeman has surprised many by leaving Southampton to replace Roberto Martinez at Everton, and now the search for a new manager at Saints is on.
In a statement the club said: “Southampton Football Club can today confirm it has accepted the resignation of First Team Manager Ronald Koeman…Our focus now is to build on our long-term plan, and work with a new management team who share both the club’s and our supporters’ values and ambitions.”
Southampton are the model of a well run top flight club, seven seasons of successive improvement in league stature is an enticing record to continue for any manager, but Saints will need to yet again pull a superb appointment out of the bag to keep it going.
Undoubtedly now the rumour mill will get into gear and a number of managers will be linked with the job. Some big names such as David Moyes have already been mentioned in line with the vacancy at Southampton, but our landlord here in the Transfer Tavern has selected FIVE managers who would be perfect for the role…
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PRESS THE IMAGE BELOW TO SEE THE FIVE PERFECT KOEMAN REPLACEMENTS!
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Unai Emery
The three time Europa League winning manager has told Sevilla that he wants to leave the club and therefore a move to Southampton could be on the horizon.
The Spaniard would be the perfect fit in terms of Saints pushing on in European competitions after leading Sevilla to a record three consecutive Europa League titles.
However the former midfielder has also reportedly attracted interest from French giants, Paris Saint-Germain so Saints would be hard fought to convince Emery to move to the South Coast over Paris.
Manuel Pellegrini
The former Manchester City manager would be quite the coup for Southampton and could do wonders for the club, in the Premier League and Europe.
After leaving Man City, the Chilean has said that he would be open to working in the Premier League again and Southampton could be the perfect opportunity.
Saints however would be a step down for Pellegrini who, as well as Man City, has previously managed; River Plate, Villerreal, Malaga and Real Madrid. Furthermore it is being reported that he has been offered the managerial post at AC Milan.
Eddie Howe
Bournemouth hero, Eddie Howe, fits the mould of a Southampton appointment perfectly, he is a young, exciting and attacking minded manager who likes to entertain his fans and will always stand by his philosophy.
The fact he is an English manager will also be a big attraction to the Saints board as a young English manager in the Premier League is something of a rarity.
However, there would be a few question marks over the appointment of Eddie Howe, he only has one season’s experience as a manager or player in top flight football and no experience on the European stage. As well as this the last time Howe left Bournemouth, for Burnley, things did not go to well, but he has progressed a long way since that move.
Andre Villas Boas
Villas Boas left the Premier League with what seemed to be unfinished business and a somewhat prickly relationship with the English media.
After spells in charge of Chelsea and Tottenham, the Portugese manager headed for Russia and Zenit St. Petersburg and rebuilt his reputation as a manager.
AVB, who speaks fluent English, has now left Zenit after three years in charge and will be looking for opportunities to make a move back to England in order to prove his critics wrong, and Southampton could just be the place to do that.
Frank De Boer
De Boer was linked with the Everton job before Moshiri opted to chase Koeman, and now that Everton have their man the Dutchman could still make a move to the Premier League with Saints.
Like Koeman, De Boer has a superb record as a defender during his time as a player, with long spells at both Ajax and Barcelona as well as 112 appearances for the Dutch national side.
After retiring De Boer turned to management and in his most recent role led Ajax to four straight Eredivisie titles and only missed out on a fifth on the final day of last season.
The 46-year-old has now left Ajax and has made it clear he would like to challenge himself by taking up a managerial post in the Premier League.
