Sunderland manager target Will Still has spoken to a rival Championship club, it has been revealed.
Sunderland have been linked with Will Still for half-a-year now, with initial links emerging after the Black Cats sacked Tony Mowbray in December 2023.
Sunderland owner Kyril Louis-Dreyfus was reluctant to pull the trigger on Still, who at the time was manager of Reims and locked in by a hefty £4.2million compensation fee.
Since, Still has left Reims. Sunderland continue to be linked with the 31-year-old, but another Championship side has now taken an interest in the Belgian-English coach.
It comes amid a wave of Sunderland-linked managers being linked with other jobs; Paul Heckingbottom is now the front-runner to become the next Plymouth Argyle manager, whilst Bo Svensson is Union Berlin is reportedly a ‘done deal’.
Norwich City speak with Sunderland manager target Will Still
An emerging claim from journalist Chris Reeve has revealed that Still is ‘one of the candidates spoken with by Norwich City’.
The Canaries sacked David Wagner after failing to progress past the semi finals of the Championship play-offs.
Reeve also adds that Still visited Norwich City’s Lotus Training Centre ‘earlier this week’, suggesting that he and the Canaries are in quite advanced discussions.
Reims president Jean-Pierre Caillot recently opened up on Still’s exit from the club, suggesting that the young coach lacked communication skills following his fallout with the club.
Kyril Louis-Dreyfus and Sunderland paying the price
Stretching back to the sacking of Mowbray, the hiring and firing of Michael Beale, to now, it seems clear that Sunderland and Louis-Dreyfus aren’t entirely sure of the type of manager they want next.
Still looked like the ideal fit for what they apparently fancied; a young coach to compliment the youthfulness of their first-team, but the fact that they haven’t yet brought him suggests that Sunderland are looking elsewhere.
And once again, Sunderland see another reported managerial target become a front-runner, or least a candidate, for a job elsewhere.
Norwich City finished the 2023/24 season in 6th place of the table and 17 points ahead of the Black Cats who eventually placed in 16th.
So the Carrow Road job may be a much more attractive one to Still than Sunderland, who are certainly at something of a crossroads this summer.
And this ongoing uncertainty over the club’s next manager only serves to add to the uncertainty and fear ahead of the next season.
If Still heads to Norwich City, it would be a real nail in the coffin for Sunderland, who’s list of managerial targets is rapidly thinning.