Former Monaco manager Leonardo Jardim could reportedly replace Aitor Karanka at Championship promotion hopefuls Nottingham Forest.
Once again, the future of Nottingham Forest manager Aitor Karanka has come under the microscope on Thursday morning.
The Spaniard was hired by the trigger-happy owner Evangelos Marinakis to end Forest’s 20 year exile from the Premier League but it has been an inconsistent season so far.
Despite spending over £20 million in the summer, the East Midland giants are seventh in the table, four points adrift of the playoffs and 12 behind league-leaders Leeds United.
And, according to the Nottingham Post, Karanka’s relationship with the Forest hierarchy is understood to have worn away of late with his future in ‘significant doubt’.
Now, The Mail reported in December that Marinakis had identified his former Olympiakos boss Leonardo Jardim as a potential replacement for the former Middlesbrough coach. And, intriguingly, Jardim is still without a job just a few weeks later.
The highly-rated Venezuelan coach has caught the eye of clubs in the USA and Qatar since being sacked by Monaco in the autumn with AC Milan also understood to have made an approach.
Interestingly, however, Olympique et Lyonnais has now reported that Jardim has turned down the chance to take over at Lyon. Whether he is keeping his options open or waiting for the chance to reunite with Marinakis at the City Ground remains to be seen.
Jardim is one of Europe’s most respected coaches, having led Monaco to the Ligue 1 title and the Champions League semi-finals as recently as 2017.
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