Conor McGilligan doesn’t believe Nuno Espirito Santo would be interested in staying with Leeds United in the Championship.
The Lowdown: Leeds remain managerless
Despite seeing clubs around them all change managers in the last few months, Leeds and Victor Orta have seen it fit to sack Jesse Marsch without having a ready-made replacement waiting to jump into the hot seat.
After failing to land either Arne Slot or Andoni Iraola, Orta decided to place his trust in Michael Skubala for the two biggest games of the clubs season in the form of Everton- which they lost – and seemingly he will be in the dugout next weekend against Southampton.
However, given the manner of defeat yesterday against Everton it should come as no surprise if Leeds decided to move for a linked manager with more experience in the form of former Wolves boss Espirito Santo.
The Latest: Nuno Espirito Santo being linked
McGilligan was asked on his YouTube channel if Nuno would look to stay around at Leeds if he was appointed but then failed to keep them in the top flight and he was far from convinced that would be the case.
He said: (32:15) “I don’t know Nuno as a person, I think his stock is a little bit too high to go back to the Championship. He was obviously trying to build his stock when he was at Wolves, then got into the Premier League and [achieved] two consecutive seventh-place finishes and left when they were 13th or 14th.
“I think his stock is too high at the minute to go down, I know he’s been in Saudi Arabia but he could just get another gig like that again, get paid a ridiculous amount of money, and ride off into the sunset but I don’t know his character.”
The Verdict: Orta must make an appointment
It would be a slight risk from Leeds to appoint Espirito Santo given that he’s been managing out in Saudi Arabia since July 2022, so may take a while to get him back up to speed with the tactical demand of the Premier League.
Also, the fact that his last job in England was far from a success as he was sacked by Tottenham Hotspur after just 10 league games in charge but he does indeed have Premier League experience which will appeal to Leeds.
No matter what though, Victor Orta should be looking to appoint someone very quickly with Premier League experience and perhaps even Championship experience so they have a contingency plan if the worst does indeed happen.
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