Having spent the summer working with Roberto Martínez, Thierry Henry is more convinced than ever that he can make a career in management. Now all he has to do is persuade someone else. He might already have succeeded – because Bordeaux are considering appointing him to replace Gus Poyet, who has talked his way into a suspension and probably the boot for branding the club’s bosses “a disgrace” for their handling of transfers.
But Henry is up against some experienced rivals, as the other names on Bordeaux’s shortlist are Laurent Blanc, who guided them to the Ligue 1 title in 2009; Jürgen Klinsmann, who’s got a good line in New Age happy talk; and Claudio Ranieri, who showed when at Leicester that his quirky patter can sustain headlines writers for months.
Ranieri almost returned to England this summer to take charge of Leeds United, according to the club’s owner Andrea Radrizzani, who has revealed that he also considered giving the gig to Antonio Conte and the aforementioned Martínez before plumping for Marcelo Bielsa. And lo, a thousand match reports beginning with quips about upturned buckets were born.
The club that last employed Ranieri, Nantes, are now on the lookout for a new centre-back and are thinking of turning either to Watford’s Younès Kaboul or Leicester’s Yohan Benalouane. Brendan Rodgers, meanwhile, has his eye on West Brom’s Craig Dawson for Celtic.
Manchester City’s Oleksander Zinchenko could be headed out on loan to Real Betis. Ruben Loftus-Cheek is mulling over a loan move, too, but Chelsea would prefer he stayed to fight for a first-team place at Stamford Bridge. Middlesbrough, meanwhile, are close to talking Everton’s Yannick Bolasie and Muhamed Besic into joining them on loan.
Stoke and Swansea both reckon that Brentford’s midfielder Ryan Woods could help them get back into the Premier League. Stoke have also got it into their heads that Derby’s Tom Huddlestone could do likewise.
Meanwhile in France, Paris Saint-Germain are keen to buy Ivan Rakitic from Barcelona, who do not want to sell, and Jérôme Boateng from Bayern Munich. Monaco want a new striker and are thinking of going either for Sevilla’s Wissam Ben Yedder or Besiktas’s former Manchester City bruiser Álvaro Negredo.
