A Sunderland managerial target is set to be interviewed for a Championship job this week.
Sunderland remain without a manager now three months after the club sacked Michael Beale following his 12-game spell in charge of the Black Cats.
Names continue to be linked with the Stadium of Light job, but some of those names are being eyed up by other clubs too.
Hull City recently sacked Liam Rosenior and soon after, speculation linked him with the Sunderland vacancy.
Plymouth Argyle then made a move to bring Rosenior to the club, but the 39-year-old, who is a favoured Sunderland appointment with Kevin Phillips, turned it down.
And Plymouth will now make another move to bring in a Sunderland-linked manager this week; Paul Heckingbottom.
Plymouth Argyle set to interview Paul Heckingbottom
Heckingbottom, 46, was sacked by Sheffield United in December, after guiding the Blades to promotion from the Championship in 2023.
At one point earlier this year, he was revealed to be the no.1 target for Sunderland, though reports soon after would claim that Heckingbottom was falling out of the running.
Now though, he could ditch potential interest from Sunderland to take on the Plymouth Argyle job, with John Percy revealing that Heckingbottom is set to be interviewed by the south coast club this week.
Percy posted on X: “Plymouth Argyle are close to appointing a new head coach… Paul Heckingbottom set to be interviewed this week and is one of several options under consideration.
“Argyle keen to appoint a new manager with experience of the leagues.”
Plymouth Argyle looking for one thing that Sunderland are not
Both Sunderland and Plymouth need a manager this summer. But both look set on hiring different types of managers.
Whilst Percy says Plymouth want a boss with experience, there’s been numerous reports that Sunderland want someone much fresher in the game.
It seems like Sunderland want to take a gamble on a Will Still or a Danny Rohl-type figure, in the hope that they can work better with what is a very young first-team squad on Wearside.
Plymouth though, who finished in 21st place of the Championship table and only five points behind Sunderland in 16th, want someone like Heckingbottom who’s been through the rigours of the second tier.
Sunderland owner Kyril Louis-Dreyfus though might find better success in hiring a blend of the two types here; someone like Rohl who’s still young but has experience of the second tier, albeit very little.
Heckingbottom may still be in the Sunderland running and could still be in contention, though Louis-Dreyfus may now have to move fast if he wants to beat Plymouth to the appointment.
And this could yet be the first of several managers that the Black Cats miss out on this summer if they don’t pull the trigger sooner or later.