There is arguably no bigger job in world football.
Forget your Manchester Uniteds, your Real Madrids, your Barcelonas, your Liverpools. To become the head coach of Brazil is to carry the hopes and dreams of over 200 football-mad citizens on your shoulders, the burning desire for success matched only by the demand for the nation’s jogo bonito principles to be upheld and emboldened.
Luiz Felipe Scolari, who led Brazil to their fifth and most-recent World Cup title in 2002, knows from experience just how crushing the pressure can be. But, according to Scolari himself, there is one man who stands out a mile when discussing Tite’s eventual successor in charge of the national team.
Even an Argentine passport, Scolari says, should not stand in Marcelo Gallardo’s way of taking over the most successful, iconic side in international football.
“Marcelo Gallardo would be optimal (for Brazil),” the former Chelsea boss tells DSports Radio.
It remains highly unlikely, of course, that the Selecao would consider hiring a man who played nearly 50 times for their closest rivals, even if Gallardo is perhaps the finest manager to emerge on the other side of the Atlantic this side of the Milenium.
Sothampton like River Plate legend Marcelo Gallardo
Nonetheless, a man of his reputation – with a CV more glittery than the crown jewels – is unlikely to go unnoticed for long. Gallardo won 14 trophies in just eight years at River Plate before his departure in November 2022.
According to The Guardian, the three-time South American Coach of the Year was ‘discussed’ by Southampton prior to the seemingly ill-fated appointment of Nathan Jones. And, with the wide-eyed Welshman already facing some rather probing questions surrounding his future at St Mary’s, Gallardo’s availability may soon have Sports Republic dusting off their contact book once again.
“What Gallardo has done with River is incredible,” Pep Guardiola once told TNT Sports of arguably the game’s most underrated tactician.
“Some things are inexplicable. Every year, three coaches are named as the best in the world (by FIFA). He’s never among them. I can’t understand it. It’s as if there’s nothing else in the world apart from Europe.”
Will Nathan Jones bite the bullet at Southampton?
It seems wrong, in some ways, that Gallardo would get more credit this side of the Atlantic for saving Southampton from relegation than he would for turning River Plate into one of the world’s most successful teams. But, like it or not, that is the way of things in our Euro-centric world. The Premier League is king.
According to talkSPORT, there are no imminent plans to sack Jones. That despite a run of six defeats in seven. Despite the widening chasm between the coach and the supporters; cries of ‘you don’t know what you’re doing’ echoing around the Brentford Community Stadium during Saturday’s 3-0 thumping in the capital.
But if Gallardo showed even the tiniest morsel of interest, Southampton would be foolish not to reciprocate it.
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