Sunderland manager target Will Still is now on the market after leaving Reims last week.
Still’s Reims exit came out of nowhere.
He leaves the club in 11th place of the Ligue 1 table which is where he and the Champagne club finished in the league last time round.
But there appears to have been something of a fall out in France between Still and Reims.
The Reims club president Jean-Pierre Caillot recently revealed the ‘nightmare’ at Reims since Still’s links to Sunderland earlier in the season.
Still had previously been very open about managing in the Championship one day in the future, after previous rumours that he’d been in England and met with Sunderland officials.
And now just a few days after his Reims exit, Still has taken to social media with a potentially cryptic hint at his next move.
Will Still breaks social media silence with cryptic message
Still took to Instagram on Sunday evening, posting for the first time since mid-April.
He posted a message of thanks to Reims but ended it with a potentially cryptic hint that he’s set to return to the dugout very soon.
Still wrote: “3 years of emotions, sharing, learning, winning, development, opportunities and fun. 19 games forever recorded in history and now the end of a very beautiful adventure. Thanks to the Stade de Reims, thanks to the players, thanks to the staff, but especially thanks to the supporters of the Red and White. See you very soon.”
One man may beat Will Still to Sunderland job this summer
Still has been a long-term target for Sunderland, and his Reims exit is certainly well-timed with the Championship season now over.
Hiring him would also be a cheap gamble for Sunderland owner Kyril Louis-Dreyfus who would’ve had to pay more than £4million in compensation previously.
But there seems to be one name growing in Sunderland headlines and in popularity among fans on social media; Rene Maric.
The Bayern Munich U19 coach is making a name for himself in the dugout having previously worked with the likes of Leeds United.
Sunderland fans appear to be quickly warming to the idea of Maric arriving at Sunderland this summer after he was recently linked with a move to the Stadium of Light.
Elsewhere, Paul Heckingbottom is now said to be out of the running.
So there seems to be a two-horse race between Still and Maric ahead of the summer, and who might be the next Sunderland manager remains to be seen.