Southampton are said to be closing in on appointing Russell Martin’s successor.
The Saints are firmly rooted to the bottom of the Premier League having won just once so far this season. Martin, who guided Southampton back to the top flight with a play-off victory against Leeds United in May, had been in charge for 18 months.
Despite the challenges Premier League football brings, Southampton have been linked with a move for Sheffield Wednesday boss Danny Rohl in recent days. But it now appears as if Ivan Juric is preparing to take the helm – as FourFourTwo explores.
Who is Ivan Juric?
Juric, 49, played as a midfielder during the majority of his career as a player. He represented Croatia five times at international level and enjoyed spells with Sevilla and Genoa most notably.
After retiring aged 34 back in 2010, it was clear Juric had passion to become a manager and in 2011 he was appointed as a first-team coach at Inter Milan under then boss Gian Piero Gasperini, now of Atalanta.
Juric has had three previous spells at Genoa, as well as time at Torino and Verona in Italy. His most notable achievement was with the latter, helping them to notable Serie A wins whilst having one of the smallest budgets in the division.
He has most recently spent time as head coach at Roma, although that lasted just two months and was regularly criticized for his management style and poor results.
Lasting just twelve matches, Juric has quite the job on his hands by attempting to steer Southampton to safety this season. A two-year deal has been agreed which will see his contract run until 2026.
Juric has a reputation for building defensively solid teams that are physically intense and tough to break down, which may be something he looks to build on given the tools available to him on the south coast.
In FourFourTwo’s view, it does now look like Southampton will be making an immediate return to the Championship this season. The Saints’ recruitment has been poor to say the very least and they cannot seem to keep the ball out of the net.
Southampton are next in Premier League action this weekend, as they take on Fulham at Craven Cottage on Sunday.
