Sunderland now look set to miss out on key manager target Will Still, following a hectic 24 hours.
Will Still now looks poised to take charge of French outfit RC Lens following his departure from Reims at the start of May.
Still, 31, has been fancied by Sunderland and owner Kyril Louis-Dreyfus since the Black Cats sacked Tony Mowbray at the end of 2023.
When Michael Beale was sacked in February, Still was again linked, with links persisting up until now, where they seem to have come to an end.
Despite reports that Still had agreed to become the next Sunderland manager, he’s apparently pulled out of the running due to concerns about the investment.
Still now looks set to take charge of RC Lens; piling yet more misery and uncertainty as the Sunderland manager search approaches the four-month mark.
French media take brutal swipe at Sunderland over Will Still saga
Sunderland’s ongoing managerial saga is becoming very concerning. But for the French media, especially those connected with RC Lens, it’s quite the opposite.
The popular RC Lens-focussed website Allez Lenz recently published an article titles ‘RC Lens laughs, Sunderland cries’.
The article go into depth about the Still saga; how he was set for Sunderland but is now set for Lens, writing that Sunder are ‘out of luck this summer’.
And Black Cats fans will agree. The club’s luck is running thin, but there will still be plenty of blame shared on Louis-Dreyfus and sporting director Kristjaan Speakman.
Sunderland out of luck, and running out of time
Sunderland are now facing an inevitable outcome of failing to pull the trigger on a move for Still; he’s set for another club.
And he’s not the first manager to be linked with a move to the Stadium of Light this summer, but to later move elsewhere.
Louis-Dreyfus will be hoping that he’s the last, though, and that Sunderland can put an end to this growing uncertainty and get a manager in place.
There’s suggestions that the delay in hiring a manager has been because Sunderland have been so desperate to hire Still.
But there’s also suggestions that Sunderland still have more than one name on their shortlist, with Rene Maric now looking like he could emerge as a front-runner.
For as long as Sunderland don’t have a manager in place, they’ll continue to be something of a laughing stock, with their chances of enjoying a positive summer and 2024/25 quickly thinning.