Sunderland may find it difficult to hire their latest manager target.
Sunderland have recently suffered another setback in their ongoing manager search, after Liam Rosenior withdrew himself from contention.
The 39-year-old, who was sacked by Hull City at the end of last season after guiding the Tigers to a 7th place finish in the Championship, was only speculatively linked with the Sunderland job at first.
It was then revealed that he was under consideration. Rosenior rapidly emerged as a front-runner after Will Still was appointed RC Lens manager and Pascal Jansen was taken out of contention.
Rosenior held talks with Sunderland but rejected a second interview, with the former full-back wanting to further discuss the possibility of becoming the next Burnley manager.
Since, it’s been revealed that the Sunderland have two unnamed candidates still in the running and in talks with owner Kyril Louis-Dreyfus and sporting director Kristjaan Speakman.
Sunderland also like QPR manager Marti Cifuentes after his impressive turnaround with the R’s last season; he guided QPR to an eventual 18th place finish in the Championship.
Carlton Palmer comments on Marti Cifuentes future at QPR
Cifuentes, 41, landed the QPR job in October 2023. He left Hammarby in Sweden and joined an R’s side sitting in 23rd place of the Championship table.
QPR looked destined for relegation under Gareth Ainsworth. But Cifuentes would earn high praise for not only dragging QPR to safety, but doing so by playing confident, attacking football.
After setting the foundations for what could be a very promising project at QPR, pundit Carlton Palmer believes the Spaniard would be inclined to stay, despite previous links with Burnley, and now Sunderland.
Palmer previously said: “It was a remarkable turnaround from Cifuentes… I think there will be a lot of clubs looking at the job that Cifuentes has done at QPR.
“But I’m sure that if he’s given the chance to do some work in the transfer window in the summer, he’ll be looking to push QPR towards the play-offs next season.”
Cifuentes reportedly signed a three-year contract with QPR. It’s also claimed that Sunderland would need to pay a six-figure compensation fee to poach him from Championship rivals QPR.
Palmer added: “It remains to be seen now whether Cifuentes will be offered an extension to his contract, and whether he’ll continue the impressive work he’s done, but obviously, it’s a concern for QPR at this present moment in time.”
Will Marti Cifuentes stay at QPR amid Sunderland links
Whether or not Sunderland pay this compensation fee remains to be seen, if not unlikely.
Louis-Dreyfus has preferred out-of-work managers previously, with his reluctance to pay Still’s previous Reims compensation maybe suggesting that he’d still prefer an out-of-work manager.
Cifuentes’ compensation appears to be a lot lower than Still’s, which was reported to be more than £4million.
But like Palmer says, Cifuentes may not even want to leave QPR this summer; he’s set himself up for a very promising 2024/25 campaign and moving to Sunderland who finished last season poorly, and who seem to lack any kind of direction, might be a sideways step for him.
QPR aren’t making many waves in the transfer window this summer, though. It’s early doors yet, but a lot of teams are already making signings, whilst QPR are yet to even be linked with many players.
If that transfer uncertainty continues much longer, Cifuentes may well have his head turned by the likes of Sunderland, who are surely becoming desperate in this search for a new manager.
All in all though; the compensation fee and the project Cifuentes has already started at QPR, it feels unlikely that he becomes the next Sunderland manager.