Sunderland may now need to drop their interest in one of their leading managerial candidates.
Sunderland sacked Michael Beale in February, setting the Black Cats up for a summer appointment.
Mike Dodds took the reins and after a shaky start has got Sunderland looking more like their former selves, albeit lacking goals.
The Black Cats remain in 13th place of the Championship table after an impressive 1-0 win at West Brom last time out.
Sunderland manager latest
There’s been some slight movement on the manager front in the last week or so.
The main news regards Reims boss Will Still.
Still, 31, is still battling for European football next season with Reims but reports coming out of France last week revealed that Reims are braced for Still’s potential exit in the summer.
Reims are even looking at potential replacements, with Still also dropping another hint about potentially managing in the Championship one day.
However, the very same report revealed that Reims would be owed around €5million in compensation, or £4.27million.
Sheffield Wednesday boss Danny Rohl has also been linked with Sunderland.
But Alan Nixon recently claimed that the compensation needed for Rohl would likely put Kyril Louis-Dreyfus and co off that particular appointment:
Compensation claims surely means one thing for Sunderland
What Rohl’s compensation fee is remains to be seen.
But he’s only under contract at Sheffield Wednesday until the summer of 2025 and it feels unlikely that the Championship strugglers would have a compensation clause greater than Still’s.
So if Sunderland are unwilling to buyout Rohl, it now feels even more unlikely that the Black Cats would be ready to buyout Still from Reims.
That, then, surely points to Sunderland hiring an out-of-work manager, with one leading candidate.
Paul Heckingbottom latest
Previous reports revealed that former Sheffield United boss Paul Heckingbottom is Sunderland’s no.1 target ahead of the summer.
He’s out-of-work, experienced in the Championship, and could be a very Tony Mowbray-like appointment given his Championship nouse and likeable manner.
Heckingbottom, 46, certainly seems to fit the bill and if he’s Sunderland’s no.1 target, and if Sunderland aren’t ready to spend big on a compensation fee for a new boss, then there seems to be very little point in waiting to hire Heckingbottom.
Kristjaan Speakman previously hinted at the club being ready to pay a compensation fee this summer, but suggested that the club would rather hire an available coach like Heckingbottom, who’s been described as ‘unbelievable’ by pundit Carlton Palmer.
If Sunderland can get their new boss in before the end of the season then it could give him a chance, albeit a very brief one, to have a look at the squad and then get straight to work in the summer transfer window.
Sunderland have just three games of the season left, with Millwall visiting the Stadium of Light this weekend.