A manager who was linked with Sunderland in 2023 is now poised to take the Ajax job, according to reports.
Sunderland have been involved in a managerial fiasco for quite some time now.
It may even stretch back to when Tony Mowbray was in charge, and doing well, until reports emerged that the Sunderland owners were considering sacking him.
Mowbray would lead the Black Cats into the 2023/24 season and to another solid start to the campaign before he was sacked in the December.
Michel Beale was his replacement and a very underwhelming one. He lasted just 12 games and took four wins, with Mike Dodds then overseeing a 16th place finish in the Championship.
Several names are now being linked, with long-term target Will Still continuously being mentioned. He was mentioned last year after Sunderland were linked with Italian boss Francesco Farioli a few months earlier.
Francesco Farioli poised to take charge of Ajax
Farioli was out of work when Sunderland were linked with him in April last year, following his impressive stint with Turkish outfit Antalyaspor.
He boasted a 41.67% win percentage with Antalyaspor but would be overlooked by Sunderland who continued with Mowbray, with Farioli then taking charge of Ligue 1 side Nice in June last year.
Since then, the 35-year-old coach has won 50% of his 36 games with the French outfit who currently sit in 5th place of the Ligue 1 table.
Now though, an emerging report from Italian outlet Gianluca Di Marzio has revealed that Farioli has held positive talks with Ajax with regards to becoming the Dutch giant’s next boss.
Former Brighton and Chelsea manager Graham Potter recently turned down the opportunity to take charge of Ajax.
Francesco Farioli to Ajax indicates one thing about Sunderland
Farioli has certainly enjoyed a rapid rise in management, and Sunderland links to him from more than a year ago tell us that the club can spot these managers.
Whatever their criteria was at the time, it clearly unearthed a very good, young coach, and Kyril |Louis-Dreyfus may rue the fact that he didn’t hire Farioli before this season.
That said, whilst Sunderland’s managerial search picked out Farioli as a potential option, it also hired Beale.
So there’s definitely some finetuning to do with this ongoing Sunderland manager search. But Louis-Dreyfus and Speakman should take positives from the fact that they have picked out good coaches in the recent past.
Now it’s just a case of hiring one and giving them the tools they need to go on and be successful in the 2024/25 Championship season.
There’s just as much importance riding on the club’s transfer business this summer as well as their managerial appointment, so there’s really a lot of pressure on the club to get a lot of things right this summer.
Another poor transfer window could pile huge amounts of pressure on Louis-Dreyfus and Speakman at the Stadium of Light.