Nottingham Forest have been rejected by Jorge Sampaoli as they decide whether or not to sack Steve Cooper. The Reds haven’t won for nine games and were defeated 2-0 by Aston Villa over Easter.
Now, it’s crunch time for Evangelos Marinakis. Forest face Manchester United, Liverpool and Brighton next, with the Reds now in the bottom three after the weekend’s result.
Goal Brazil claimed yesterday that the Reds have made contact with Sampaoli’s representatives. The Premier League outfit aren’t alone though, with Flamego also keen to appoint him as their new head coach.
Sampaoli has managed a long list of clubs. Most recently he’s taken charge of Sevilla, Marseille and the Argentina national team. His second spell with Sevilla ended last month when he left with a win ratio of 41%.
The head coach is undoubtedly an experienced figure. Forest must decide, however, whether he’s truly the man to take the club forward, with zero experience in England.
Sampaoli has took charge of Argentina at a World Cup. He was in the hot seat during the 2018 edition of the competition when they were beaten 4-3 by France in the last 16.
Now, however, the Reds have been thwarted in their advances to appoint Sampaoli, according to Thiago Fernandes from Goal Brazil. The 63-year-old is awaiting an approach from Flamengo and clearly fancies that job more.
Sampaoli has rejected Forest
This didn’t sound overly realistic anyway. It smacked of his agent doing some work to ensure that Flamengo think he’s a wanted man before going full steam ahead for him.
Forest will surely avoid sacking Cooper right now. There are just eight games remaining and with Forest in the bottom three, surely there won’t be a queue of managers lining up to replace him.
The Reds might have dodged a bit of a bullet here. Sampaoli has never managed in England and he’s only achieved limited success in Spain.
If Forest do sack Cooper it needs to be for a manager who fits the head coach role and is young enough to improve. It’s fair to say that Sampaoli doesn’t fit either of those criteria.
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