Sunderland had a horde of names on their managerial shortlist before eventually hiring Regis Le Bris during the summer.
Sunderland’s latest managerial search process was an arduous one, with the Black Cats actually spending four months without a permanent manager in place following Michael Beale’s sacking in February and Regis Le Bris’ appointment in June.
The wait has since paid off for the Black Cats. They sit in 4th place of the Championship table and have looked rejuvenated under Le Bris, albeit having had some mixed results in the last few weeks now.
Le Bris beat a number of names to the Sunderland job. The likes of Will Still was thought to have agreed terms with Sunderland before pulling out of the move, whilst Liam Rosenior came close to landing the gig before also pulling out.
Elsewhere, former Feyenoord boss Pascal Jansen was heavily linked with Sunderland at one point before he suspired everyone and took the Ferencvaros job in Hungary. Another European boss linked with the Stadium of Light was Danny Rohl.
Danny Rohl could land Premier League job after summer links to Sunderland
It was reported before the end of last season that Sunderland were interested in Sheffield Wednesday manager Rohl, who guided the Owls to safety last time round.
He’s since made a steady start to this season with the Owls who sit in 9th place of the Championship table and 11 points behind the Black Cats.
But an emerging report from Sky Sports claims that Rohl is being considered for the vacant Southampton job, after the Saints sacked Russell Martin on Sunday.
Rohl has ties to Southampton having previously worked as Ralph Hasenhuttl’s no.2 at St Mary’s.
Danny Rohl could’ve cost Sunderland an obscene amount of money
Rohl never ruled out moving to Sunderland during the summer, nor any other job, suggesting that he may have been open to the right offer should it have come along.
And there’s no doubting that Southampton could be a good fit and a good move for Rohl whose ambitions may not be matched at Hillsborough.
For Sunderland, Rohl’s links to the Premier League shows they were looking in the right places over the summer.
But Rohl never really looked a realistic move with the German having had an insane release clause at Wednesday at the start of the summer.
Before he signed a new contract at the end of May, Rohl had a £10million release clause at Sheffield Wednesday, which the Black Cats of course wouldn’t have paid out.
It’s understood that that fee was heavily lowered after he signed a new deal, though, so Southampton may be ready to pay out whatever it is that’s needed to hire Rohl this month.