Birmingham City are reportedly set to name Gianfranco Zola as their new manager.
According to Sky Sports, Gianfranco Zola has arrived in Birmingham to sign his contract with the club and become their new manager – and The Telegraph believe that a deal with Chelsea to take players on loan is also likely.
The Blues beat Ipswich Town 2-1 at St. Andrews on Tuesday night, but have taken the bizarre decision to sack manager Gary Rowett despite lying just one place outside the play-offs and only three point off third place.
Former Birmingham manager Gary Rowett
Rowett, 42, leaves having won almost 40% of his games as Blues boss following his 2014 move from Burton Albion, and helped turn the club fro relegation candidates to play-off hopefuls in just over two years at St. Andrews.
Now though, the popular manager is on his way out of the club, as new board Trillion Trophy Asia look to bring in a new boss to take the club forward.
Tonight, Sky Sports report that Birmingham may not waste any time in finding a replacement, as they claim that Italian manager Gianfranco Zola has already arrived in Birmingham to take charge of the club.
Gianfranco Zola
It’s stated that Zola, 47, is in the UK to finalise his contract with Birmingham, and could be named as Rowett’s replacement within in the next 24 hours.
Zola has been out of work since leaving Qatari side Al-Arabi SC in June of this year, and whilst he’s had experience in the Premier League with West Ham and the Championship with Watford, his patchy managerial record will divide opinion, particularly as he’s replacing somebody as popular as Rowett.
The Telegraph add that, once Zola is named Birmingham boss, the club will strike a deal with Chelsea – where Zola scored 80 goals in 312 games – in order to take players on loan from the Stamford Bridge club.
Additionally, it’s stated that Zola will appoint two former Chelsea team-mates to his coaching staff, with Kevin Hitchcock and Pierluigi Casiraghi believed to be following Zola to St. Andrews this week.
Would you be happy to see Zola take charge at Birmingham?
Receive exclusive football transfer news and updates twice a week to your mailbox
