England backed to appoint ‘great’ manager who failed at Chelsea in shock move

England’s search for a new manager is well underway and Graham Potter has emerged as the early favourite, but lots could still change in the coming weeks.

As we exclusively revealed earlier this month, Eddie Howe is the FA’s top choice to replace Gareth Southgate but luring him away from Newcastle won’t be easy.

That’s despite the fact that Howe dreams of managing the Three Lions one day, but the timing for him to take the top job may not be quite right.

Pundits have already begun speculating over who the ideal next manager would be and Robbie Keane believes while Howe would be a good choice, consideration needs to be given to others.

“I wasn’t surprised to see Gareth Southgate leave England. I always believed that Euro 2024 would be his last tournament,” Keane said in a recent interview.

“I think he’s done a great job, reaching two finals at the Euros and a World Cup semi-final. He was unlucky to lose a final on penalties to Italy, and you would have to say he’s done a very good job.

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“I do think England should have won a tournament under Southgate. They had a great opportunity against Italy, and I thought they were the better team at that time, and they let that one slip. Spain were the better team at Euro 2024 and they deserved to win that final.

“There are a lot of names being thrown out for the next England manager, including Lee Carsley, who I played with and know very well. We speak on a regular basis.

“He’s a very good coach, he knows the young English players coming through and the ones who have broken into the first team, and he likes to play good football.

“I know Eddie Howe a little bit from playing against him and speaking to him occasionally, and he’s done a tremendous job at Bournemouth and Newcastle.”

England urged to consider Mauricio Pochettino

Keane believes, however, that the next England manager shouldn’t necessarily be English, and thinks Mauricio Pochettino should be considered.

“If England want to go down the foreign route, Mauricio Pochettino is very good with young players, the players all love him and he’s very likeable with the media.

“I know Mauricio very well, and he’s a great guy. If you look at what he did at Tottenham, he gave the youngsters a chance at the very start and did an unbelievable job with them.

“Ideally you would want an international manager to come from the same country as the team, but it depends on who is available and it’s ultimately about getting the right guy for the job.

“I don’t think England have to appoint an English manager from the Premier League – as long as the new manager has success, nobody will care where he’s from.”

Pochettino does have an excellent record with young players and is known to be a superb man-manager, two attributes a good national team manager needs.

But it’s fair to say that the Argentine has failed to replicate the success he had with Tottenham at Paris Saint-Germain and Chelsea, so appointing him wouldn’t be without risk.

Pochettino is currently out of contract after being sacked by Chelsea in May and already has interest from clubs around Europe.

Pep Guardiola and Jurgen Klopp have also been mentioned and the FA are keen to hold talks with both to understand whether it would be possible to appoint either.

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