Norwich City may have the upper hand over Sunderland as the Canaries eye Will Still as their next manager.
Reports on Thursday revealed that Norwich City have spoken to Will Still after the Canaries sacked former manager David Wagner.
The news comes as a blow to Sunderland who have liked Still, 31, for some time now, with the Black Cats also seeing Paul Heckingbottom and Bo Svensson move towards other clubs.
Sunderland owner Kyril Louis-Dreyfus appears to be coming under growing pressure to hire a new manager after more than three months since the club sacked Michael Beale.
It’s said that Still has not only spoken to Norwich City about their vacant managerial position but that the Belgian-English coach has also visited the club’s training ground this week.
Norwich City may have upper hand over Sunderland in Will Still race
Norwich City may also have the upper hand over Sunderland in the race to appoint Still, with journalist Connor Southwell revealing on X that Still has prior relations with Canaries’ sporting director Ben Knapper.
Southwell writes that Still has a ‘pre-existing relationship’ with Knapper who was previously loans manager manager at Arsenal, where he loaned Folarin Balogun to Reims when Still was in charge.
Still took charge of Reims in October 2022 and during that 2022/23 season, Balogun would go on to score 21 goals in 37 Ligue 1 appearances for the Champagne club.
Sunderland may also have pre-existing relationship with Will Still
It’s no secret that Still has been on Sunderland’s radar for a long time now, with his initial links to the Stadium of Light emerging in December last year.
And around the same time, it was claimed that Still had met with Sunderland officials in the UK to discuss the possibility of replacing Tony Mowbray.
Louis-Dreyfus wouldn’t pay the compensation fee though. Still, now a free agent after leaving Reims at the start of May, seemingly has options in England.
And Norwich City may be a more attractive option than Sunderland with the Canaries finishing in 6th place of the Championship table in the 2023/24 season.
They finished 17 points ahead of Sunderland who ended the campaign in 16th, winning just five games in 2024.
So with Norwich now eyeing up Still as their new manager and bringing him to the UK to visit the training ground and whatnot, with Sunderland now in the knowledge that the Canaries already have an in with Still given the Knapper connection, Louis-Dreyfus may have to quickly turn his attentions elsewhere.