Alan Nixon has slammed Kyril Louis-Dreyfus for ‘making a mess’ of Sunderland’s manager search.
Sunderland have been without a manager since they sacked Michael Beale in February, having already been criticised for the 43-year-old only two months earlier.
A long list of names has emerged since the season came to an end, while it was expected they would wrap up an appointment pretty quickly.
However, weeks past and name after name began to get checked off the shortlist, with each one going elsewhere or just simply rejecting the Black Cats.
Sunderland have now failed to appoint the likes of Will Still, Rene Maric, Bo Svensson, Pascal Jansen and Liam Rosenior, with the latter pulling out days after the club claimed a new manager would be named ‘imminently’.
One of the very few names left that is public knowledge to supporters is QPR boss Marti Cifuentes, who is said to be of interest to the Wearside outfit.
However, Alan Nixon went onto report that Sunderland would have to cough up a hefty six-figure compensation fee if they were to lure him north – making a move unlikely.
Kyril Louis-Dreyfus is ‘making a mess’ of Sunderland manager hunt
The journalist has now been questioned further on the Spaniard, with one fan admitting he ‘can’t see’ the club paying his compensation fee.
Nixon then criticised the club, replying on X: “If they can’t afford compo why start the ball rolling in the first place? Making a mess of this.”
He was then questioned as to whether the ball was actually ‘rolling’, and he said: “Ball was rolling from last Friday…”
It has only been the last few days that Sunderland fans became aware of their interest in Cifuentes, but Nixon has claimed they got the ball ‘rolling’ almost a week ago.
Whether that just means declaring interest or actually contacting the club, who knows.
Is Marti Cifuentes still worth pursuing?
However, that does suggest they would have known of his compensation fee since last week, so it begs the question as to why their interest still stood in recent days.
The Black Cats have spent a significant amount of their time looking at free agent managers, so it would be a huge surprise if they were now prepared to cough up the cash – though would also stink of the desperation that surely surrounds the Stadium of Light right now.
Cifuentes does seem like one of the better options remaining, but it would be a big surprise if either party was willing to make that move work.
It feels like the club are wasting their time even further when they know it is not going to happen.