A manager who was heavily linked with Sunderland at one point over the summer has now been tipped for the England job.
A horde of names were linked with the Sunderland job over the summer, as the club spent more than four months without a permanent manager in place.
Michael Beale was sacked in the February, and the Sunderland owners wouldn’t appoint Regis Le Bris until the June.
But the time taken to appoint the Frenchman is proving to be worthwhile with Sunderland currently sitting in 1st place of the Championship table.
Le Bris has quickly won over the hearts of fans, whilst impressing the rest of the Championship with his side’s fast-paced and exciting football.
Of all the managers linked with the Stadium of Light job during the summer, many have gone on to new clubs.
Pascal Jansen took charge of Hungarian side Ferencvaros whilst Will Still remained in Ligue 1 with RC Lens, joined by Liam Rosenior in the French top flight after he landed the Strasbourg job.
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Frank Lampard tipped for England job
Another name linked with Sunderland during the summer period was former Chelsea and England legend Frank Lampard.
And at one point, Lampard was strongly linked with Sunderland as their search rumbled on towards the four-month mark.
The 46-year-old has been out of permanent managerial work since leaving Everton at the start of 2023, having a spell as interim boss at Chelsea later that year.
With the England job up for grabs, talkSPORT pundit Stan Collymore has backed Lampard to be a good fit for the Three Lions, just months after he was linked to Sunderland.
Collymore said: “Frank Lampard might be an interesting one. Why? Instant name recognition, did well for his country, has managed in the Premier League, has managed at Derby County in the Championship.
“So, if you could wrap around him, he did the hard yards, and he’s an exceptional talker. And he would get the kind of nodding people at home like us if we came out with performances like Greece and to a lesser extent Finland, certainly the Greece performance.
“He could paint that in a way where we would go, ‘okay, we are going to give him more time because we trust him’.”
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Would Frank Lampard have been a good fit for Sunderland
Lampard was linked with Sunderland quite late in the summer, when desperation was starting to set in among fans.
And fans were starting to warm to the idea of Lampard coming in and having an impact on the club’s younger stars.
But Le Bris has proved that Sunderland needed a tactician. He’s worked wonders so far whereas many might have expected Lampard to struggle should he landed the Black Cats gigs.
International management is much different. Lampard has the experience as a player which would no doubt serve him well, but whether he has the tactical nouse to win a major tournament remains to be seen.