Sunderland interviewed IFK Varnamo coach Kim Hellberg last week but he seems unlikely to be their new manager after entering advanced discussions with Swedish outfit Hammarby instead.
You could argue that Sunderland’s approach to finding a new manager mirrors their approach when scouring the market for new players. A club who invested heavily in youth, bringing in 17-year-old Jobe Bellingham and co over the summer, looking to offer an opportunity to an exciting, up-and-coming tactician capable of harnessing a squad of players also looking to realise their potential under the ownership of Kyril Louis-Dreyfus.
Veterans Neil Warnock and Mick McCarthy are keen on the job, but Sunderland are not keen on them (Northern Echo).
Sunderland held Kim Hellberg talks
The Black Cats are instead looking for a manager at the very beginning of their coaching journey, with 30-somethings Will Still, Mathias Jaissle, Francesco Farioli and now Kim Hellberg emerging on the club’s radar in recent months.
Sunderland looked at Jaissle and Farioli when they considered moving on from Tony Mowbray over the summer. Neither one is available to take over from the departed Mowbray these days, however, leading Sunderland to cast their net a little wider and make contact with a man who led a usually-lower-league Varnamo outfit to their best ever finish in Sweden’s top flight last season.
35-year-old Hellberg, according to The Times, held talks with Louis-Dreyfus last Thursday.
Will Still another Black Cats candidate
But Sunderland’s pool of potential candidates may be about to get that little bit smaller. Aftonbladet are now reporting that Hellberg will stay in Scandinavia and take over at Hammarby instead, an appointment planned for later on this week.
The Stockholm-based outfit, who are co-owned by Swedish legend Zlatan Ibrahimovic, finished two places behind Hellberg’s Varnamo in seventh last season.
Sunderland do, at least, appear to have planned for such an eventuality. Belgian publication DHNet reports that talks between Louis-Dreyfus and 31-year-old Still are also underway, although he will be difficult to pry away from Champions League-chasing Reims.
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