Mark Hughes is under huge pressure with Southampton struggling at the bottom of the Premier League but is Paulo Sousa going to replace him?
Mark Hughes might still be in the Southampton hot seat, but it seems he is hanging on to his job by a thread after another damaging week in which his side lost to Fulham in the Premier League and exited the EFL Cup on penalties to Leicester City.
A number of highly-rated coaches have already been touted as potential replacements, but reports in Portugal suggest that one man is looking like the front-runner – Paulo Sousa.
The Times had claimed that Sousa, a former QPR, Leicester and Swansea boss, was in the stands as Southampton went down 3-2 at Craven Cottage on Saturday.
And Noticias ao Minuto has reported that Sousa is keen on taking over at St Mary’s, so much so that he has rejected offers from elsewhere. It is claimed that the 48-year-old is ‘very close’ to becoming the fourth Iberian manager in the Premier League, joining Jose Mourinho, Marco Silva and Nuno Espirito Santo in England.
Sousa has enjoyed a rather mixed managerial career, enduring an underwhelming spell at Fiorentina and lasting just 33 games before leaving Chinese Super League outfit Tianjin Quanjian in October.
But the experienced coach has also won trophies in Hungary, Switzerland and Israel during his time at Videoton, Basel and Maccabi Tel Aviv respectively.
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