Aston Villa face a battle to convince their top targets to replace sacked Steven Gerrard, amid reservations from leading candidate Mauricio Pochettino.
The former Tottenham boss was Villa’s first choice to replace Gerrard, and co-owners Nassef Sawiris and Wes Edens were prepared to make him one of the highest-paid managers in Europe.
But with the Argentine unsure about taking over a club 17th in the Premier League, Villa must examine other options. They are exploring a move for Ruben Amorim, the highly-rated coach of Sporting Lisbon, and intermediaries are believed to have sounded out Brentford’s Thomas Frank recently.
Aaron Danks, one of the few coaches remaining, will take temporary charge against Frank’s side on Sunday.
Chief executive Christian Purslow drove the appointment of Gerrard and his role may come under scrutiny if fortunes do not improve quickly.
Despite his long-standing connection with Villa sporting director Johan Lange, Frank is expected to sign a new deal with the Bees.
Amorim would need persuading but indications yesterday were that it would be easier to tempt him than Frank. Brendan Rodgers is another candidate.
Gerrard departed 11 months into a five-and-a-half-year deal, with the ex-Liverpool skipper’s backroom staff leaving with him.
He was dismissed less than two hours after Thursday’s 3-0 defeat at Fulham, with the club issuing a 41-word statement on their website, and had to travel back to Villa’s training ground on the team coach, knowing his fate.
Sawiris was at Craven Cottage and is said to have departed early, which may have led to the speed of the decision. That left Gerrard to say his goodbyes to the squad at Bodymoor Heath at around 1am on Friday.
After a short speech from Gerrard and a round of handshakes, everyone went their separate ways. Gerrard has a close relationship with Jurgen Klopp and the Liverpool boss yesterday advised him to take a step back after being cast aside by Villa.
Klopp said: ‘Since he finished his career, he’s been pretty much working all the time. Maybe use it now for himself to recharge.
‘We had a little exchange this morning. I can imagine it’s disappointing for him but I don’t think we have to worry about Stevie. He knows the game and these kind of things can happen.’
Villa released a more detailed statement on Friday. Purslow said: ‘The board has come to this decision following a full evaluation of results and performances over the calendar year. We were clear when we appointed Steven that we set an objective of continuous improvement but that has not been achieved.’