Sunderland have been linked with out-of-work Dutch manager Pascal Jansen.
Sunderland have been linked with former AZ Alkmaar boss Pascal Jansen, 51, who’s been without a club since the start of 2024.
London-born Jansen, a UEFA Pro-License holder, previously worked with Jong PSV before replacing now Liverpool boss Arne Slot as AZ boss in 2020.
In little over three years with the Eredivisie club, Jansen oversaw 162 games and won 94 (58.02%), achieving no lower than a 5th place finish in each of his seasons there.
He was sacked in January 2024 and has been without a club since. But Sunderland are reportedly considering Jansen as their next manager.
Sunderland AFC News has spoken exclusively to Dutch football expert Michael Statham about Jansen, who’s given the lowdown on the Sunderland manager candidate…
Would Pascal Jansen move to the Championship with Sunderland?
“I think he would move to the Championship. When he left AZ Alkmaar, it wasn’t on the best terms. They weren’t have a good season AZ.
“He took some steps forward at the club having taken over from Arne Slot, who of course went on to Feyenoord then Liverpool.”
Is Pascal Jansen comparable to a current Premier League manager?
“Jansen was holding on to what Slot had put in place, and keeping the football mostly the same. He would play with a 4-3-3.
“That style of football was somewhat comparable to Arne Slot, if you were to compare him to a manager in the Premier League right now, it would be him.
“I know that Slot isn’t known to many people right now who are Premier League fans, but they do play with the full-backs up high, a midfield three with a no.10 that supports the striker.
“Both Jansen and Slot like wingers, and they like to rotate them, not to give them the full 90 minutes so to say.”
Why did Pascal Jansen leave AZ Alkmaar?
“I think Jansen sort of stagnated in his final season with AZ. He wasn’t able to press on with the club or the players at his disposal.
“There was a great opportunity for AZ Alkmaar to finish 3rd this season… AZ and FC Twente were the clubs who wanted to take 3rd off Ajax who were struggling last season.
“AZ, they couldn’t make the most of it, and they had a disappointing season in the Conference League too, in Aston Villa’s group.
“I went to Alkmaar to watch AZ play Villa, and I spoke to Pascal Jansen… I got this impression when I was asking these questions, there wasn’t that drive that you might see from some of the other managers that you speak to.
“When I saw Jansen, he wasn’t over-enthusiastic about it all, and he was saying that it would ‘take care of itself, the future’, rather than him being ambitious and seeking that next step in his career.”
On Pascal Jansen’s language skills and ability to work with younger players
“Pascal Jansen is half English as well as Dutch, so actually his English is very good. That should never be a problem.
“I think his vision is one of a team that plays a 4-3-3. He has been a little criticised for not using too many young players in his time at AZ.
“It is his only experience so far as a manager, and I think, to judge him from what we’ve seen there, you’ve got to be a little bit careful. But, on the whole, I think he’s left AZ quite negatively.
“Some fans were saying, ‘We’ve got to be patient, it is only AZ, we’re not one of the big teams, we’re not PSV, we’re not Feyenoord, our players aren’t as strong so we shouldn’t expect as much from him’.
“But I do believe that the results that AZ were going through when they were losing some games in row, conceding goals, it wasn’t the AZ that we’d come to see over the past decade.
“Jansen had been criticised that the football wasn’t as good, it wasn’t as pretty, he wasn’t getting the best out of his players, he didn’t seem as motivated, he wasn’t taking players and making them into big sales for the club like Slot was before, and managers before him.”
Final thoughts on Pascal Jansen to Sunderland
“He had a tough act to follow with Arne Slot being there, and he has learned from him.
“AZ had a good record about the top sides in the Eredivisie under Slot, and that continued under Jansen to begin with. It was only the past year or so that AZ lost that proud record of getting some important wins.
“Jansen was getting results by playing quite deep and playing with some counter-attacks, and that was getting results against top sides, and they had a great record to get into the semi final of the Conference League, the season before, getting knocked out by West Ham.
“AZ fans feel as though that was a missed opportunity, they could’ve beaten West Ham.
“On that run, they beat Lazio home and away, so he [Jansen] has got pedigree, and I think what happened this season, wasn’t in character with what we’d seen before now.
“Maybe he’s made the rest of this season a chance to reflect, and to really think about what was making him a proposition for some of the better sides in Europe; Rangers were looking at him at one point.
“But he was sacked, and the football wasn’t great. There was sneaking through the Dutch Cup against amateur sides, they were taken to extra time against a non-league side, and AZ are better than that, and like I said, there was young players that weren’t able to be taken to the next level under him this season, they sort of stagnated a little bit.”