Sunderland have a new manager on their radar; former AZ boss Pascal Jansen.
Dutch boss Pascal Jansen is a new name in the running to become next Sunderland manager, amid ongoing doubts over a possible swoop for Will Still.
Born in London, Jansen moved to the Netherlands whilst very young and played for the likes of AZ and Ajax as a youth player before retiring early.
He’s since made a name for himself as a manager though, starting out with Jong PSV before spending four years as AZ manager.
Jansen took the reins after briefly working under new Liverpool boss Arne Slot at AZ, winning 94 of his 162 games in charge (58.02%) before leaving the club in January 2024.
Alan Nixon says that Jansen, 51, is of serious interest to Sunderland owner Kyril Louis-Dreyfus and sporting director Kristjaan Speakman, and the pair might be very interested in some comments from Jansen last year.
Pascal Jansen 2023 comments will be very interesting to Sunderland
Speaking to Sky Sports in 2023, Jansen spoke about AZ’s philosophy, and the fact that the club knows they often have to sell their star assets.
He hinted at AZ being something of a stepping stone for players, often young, but he relished that challenge.
Jansen said: “The club [AZ] and I already had similar DNA. Logically, I support that philosophy.
“I am aware of what it means for me as a head coach. When you lose your best players every season, that is something that many coaches, I assume, would not want to happen. But this is our way.
“We understand that the Eredivisie is a league where young players show their skills and then move on.
“The players we bring in arrive before they are on the radar and before they have reached their full potential. It is challenging but it is exciting.”
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Comments about players often leaving every summer, and often young talents who get snapped up by bigger clubs, will be very interesting to Sunderland.
It sounds like the model at AZ is very similar to that at Sunderland with Louis-Dreyfus bound to cash in on some of his top players this summer.
And in seasons to come, if Sunderland keep on buying players young and cheap, and developing them well, then they’ll continue to sell off their best players.
It’s arguably part of being a Championship club and until Sunderland are in the Premier League and stabilised, this pattern of selling will continue.
The fact that Jansen worked well with AZ under these conditions; consistently finishing in the top five of the Eredivisie table, suggests that he could work the same kind of magic at Sunderland, regardless of who the club sells this summer.
It’ll be a big transition from the Dutch top flight to the Championship. But there’s certainly a lot to suggest that Jansen could not only thrive in English football, but that he could thrive under the current Sunderland model.
That seems to be something that not many managers can do.