Hammarby have confirmed the appointment of Kim Hellberg after the former IFK Varnamo coach held talks with Championship giants Sunderland last week.
If you can’t beat them, take them.
That appears to be the approach Hammarby are taking, a club who finished two places behind Kim Hellberg’s unfancied, overachieving Varnamo outfit last term snapping up one of the most highly-rated young coaches in Scandinavia.
Hellberg, after guiding Varnamo to their best ever top-flight finish of third last term, held talks with Sunderland last week (The Times). But, after appearing to rule himself out of the Black Cats running yesterday, the 35-year-old has now put an end to the speculation for good while signing his name on a contract at Hammarby.
Sunderland target Kim Hellberg has a new job
“Kim is one of the most interesting and skilled coaches in Scandinavia,” Hammarby’s sporting director Mikael Hjelmberg tells the club’s official website. “We are extremely proud to present him as our new head coach.
“We have sought a coach who can stand for offensive, dominant and fast-paced football, and who can change and improve the training culture in Hammarby to train more and train harder.
“It is also important that the coach embraces our squad strategy and is adept at working with and developing young players.”
Funnily enough, those are many of the attributes that Sunderland are also looking for in a new head coach. The Black Cats will not be hiring a grizzled EFL veteran such as a Neil Warnock or a Micky McCarthy, instead casting their net wider and further in pursuit of a hungry, forward-thinking tactician capable of getting the best out of a squad put together by their youth-first transfer strategy.
Black Cats shift focus to Will Still
Hence the interest in Will Still, a 31-year-old who has Reims chasing a European spot in France. Still is also in talks with Sunderland, albeit he this week played down suggestions that he is set to take over from Tony Mowbray at the Stadium of Light.
“Nothing is complete until you have signed some papers. And, right now, I have not come close to doing that,” Hellberg told Fotbolskanalen on Wednesday.
“I was probably the odds-on favourite in Sunderland for a while. That’s how this industry works. There is often some kind of truth in most things that are written. But the honest answer is that I haven’t signed anything.
“Sunderland has come across my name, and there has been contact and there have been meetings. I don’t know how close (I was to getting the job). But there have been meetings. It has been interesting and fun to have been part of that process.
“It is a fantastically big club with good people. Today, it feels like it will be someone else who coaches that club. But it was a great experience to have been part of the process. It has been a learning process.”
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