A key Sunderland manager target has now left his current club, in a huge potential boost for Black Cats owner Kyril Louis-Dreyfus.
Sunderland are set to hire a new manager in the summer following the sacking of Michael Beale back in February.
Mike Dodds is leading Sunderland into the summer, having now overseen 12 games in charge; the same amount as Beale, though Dodds has just two wins compared to Beale’s four.
Several managers have been linked with Sunderland ahead of the summer, though Reims boss Will Still has perhaps been more closely linked than others.
The 31-year-old has garnered a strong reputation in Europe for his tenure with Reims in Ligue 1, previously guiding the club to an 19-game unbeaten run.
But a third-straight defeat last weekend landed Still in hot water at Reims, and on Thursday afternoon it was announced that he’s leaving the club, ‘as of today’.
Sunderland manager target Will Still leaves Reims
Reims announced on Thursday afternoon that they and Still have parted company.
Still leaves Reims in 11th place of the Ligue 1 table; exactly where they finished last time round.
It comes amid ongoing speculation that Sunderland fancy a summer appointment of Still, who was thought to have a £4.27million compensation clause in his Reims deal.
Now that Still is no longer with Reims though, and a free manager, Sunderland won’t have to pay the French club any compensation.
That could potentially open the door wide open for Still to head to Wearside this summer.
Kyril Louis-Dreyfus surely takes this stance on Will Still at Sunderland
It was previously revealed to Sunderland AFC News that Still is Sunderland’s no.1 managerial target this summer.
And now that he’s free and Louis-Dreyfus won’t have to pay a sizeable compensation fee to bring him in, it surely makes sense that Still heads to Sunderland this summer.
Whether or not Still leaving Reims has anything to do with the Black Cats’ ongoing links to the Belgian-English coach remains to be seen.
But the timing of the matter seems very coincidental and if Still does eventually take charge of Sunderland, it might tell us all we need to know.
Still remains quite a risky appointment for Sunderland given his age and inexperience.
Though now that he won’t cost anything, it may be a risk that Louis-Dreyfus and co are willing to take, so Still to Sunderland is certainly a story to keep an eye on in the next few weeks.