Marti Cifuentes remains on Sunderland’s shortlist in their search for a new manager.
Sunderland look to be running out of names to replace Michael Beale after recently being turned down by Liam Rosenior.
The Black Cats have been linked with the likes of Will Still, Bo Svensson and Pascal Jansen, but all three have find new clubs elsewhere.
The most recent name to emerge is Cifuentes, who has been at QPR since being handed the task of saving them from relegation in October.
The Spaniard succeeded in keeping them up, with the London outfit finishing level on points with Sunderland.
Cifuentes is believed to be of interest to Sunderland, but they face the obstacle of a six-figure compensation fee if they want to lure him to Wearside.
The 41-year-old is believed to be very highly-rated at Loftus Road, with fans there eager to see him remain at the club beyond the summer.
The feeling appears to be mutual in their squad too, with defender Steve Cook speaking very highly of his coach.
QPR defender heaps praise on ‘extremely strong’ manager
Cook has now issued his ‘honest’ verdict on Cifuentes, as he continues to be linked with a move away.
Speaking on the Second Tier podcast, the centre-back said: “Yeah, the manager is very, very good. I haven’t been on the end of too many managerial seconds and new meetings, but his first meeting that he took with us kind of set down what he wanted. He was extremely strong.
“He’s got a really nice kind of nature to him. He’s a very similar kind of mindset to all the way he comes across in interviews. He talks very well, but on the training pitch he’s very strict, very on it.
“He’s got very good methods. Javi, his assistant, is a great coach as well. One of the nicest guys you’ll meet in football, so they kind of got a really good kind of balance to how they work.
“And to be honest, they came in and just done their basics. I feel that they’ve got layers to kind of add to this team, add to their squad, which I’m really looking forward to in pre-season because the amount obviously really improved in a small space of time.
“To what the time that he’s got on his hands now, I feel that we can kind of really climb that table and not have to worry looking over our shoulders. And he’s a great coach, a great guy. I think he’s got a very, very successful kind of career management ahead of him and hopefully the club can keep hold of him for a long while.”
The Spaniard is exactly what Sunderland need
Sunderland need to find a manager who has the right balance of forming good relationships with the players, but also being strict and knowing exactly what he is doing on the training pitch.
The Black Cats mastered that perfectly when they appointed Tony Mowbray, but lost it as soon as he was controversially sacked.
Cifuentes looks capable of doing just that, bringing high spirits to QPR and transforming them very quickly.
The coach sounds ideal for Sunderland, while his assistant Javi will surely know Kristjaan Speakman well from his time at Birmingham City.
Whether that will help Sunderland or not is yet to be seen, with previous reports suggesting it is actually Speakman’s presence that is causing the manager search to drag on so much.
Kyril Louis-Dreyfus will be desperate to find a new manager though and may be forced to cough up the six-figure fee, if Cifuentes is actually willing to move north.