There’s been yet another twist in the Will Still saga, with Sunderland and Ligue 1 club RC Lens seemingly in a tug-of-war for the Belgian coach.
Will Still and his next club are yet to be decided, with one of Sunderland and RC Lens seemingly set to hire the 31-year-old this summer.
It comes after Still left Reims at the start of May following an impressive 18-month period with the Champagne club.
He’s a long-term target for Sunderland owner Kyril Louis-Dreyfus who has reportedly agreed a deal with Still for him to replace Michael Beale, now more than three months since he was sacked.
But RC Lens then swooped in with Still turning his attentions towards the French outfit, who finished 7th in Ligue 1 last season, qualifying for the Europa Conference League.
A move to Lens though doesn’t appear to be cut-and-dried for Still.
The latest on Will Still to Sunderland
It appears that Sunderland, if they still want it, may have a lifeline in the ongoing Still saga.
An emerging report from French outlet Allez Lens claims that Still’s pending arrival is ‘causing a lot of talks’ among Lens fans.
This is largely because of the delay and now the uncertainty; club president Joseph Oughourlianhas apparently revealed that there remains more than one candidate for their vacant managerial job.
Allez Lens suggest that Still is now back-pedalling on the RC Lens job, suggesting that it may be because of concerns about the budget.
But French journalist Mohamed Toubache-Ter claimed on X on Tuesday that Still to Lens was being ‘finalised’, and that the ‘last details’ were now being discussed’.
The problem Will Still now faces at Sunderland
If Still takes the Sunderland job now, after all this drama, he’ll arrive with a bit of making up to do with the fanbase.
The fact that he’d agreed to become the next Sunderland manager, only to then backtrack when he thought he had a better deal, questions his loyalty.
Louis-Dreyfus may now be fearing that should Still come in and perform well, he’ll want to leave the Stadium of Light as soon as a bigger opportunity comes along.
RC Lens may now have the same impression of Still and that too could explain why the French outfit are yet to pull the trigger on an appointment.
The longer that this manager search goes on and the more twists this Still saga takes, the more that Sunderland fans may want to see an end to it completely, and someone entirely new come into the reckoning.
Still showed during his time with Reims that he has a wandering eye in management and that might suggest a lot about his character.
Whether he’d be the right fit for Sunderland, or just another Beale-type coach, remains to be seen.
But it certainly seems like Sunderland are still in the race; that is, if they’re still determined to appoint Still this summer.