Leicester City are at an ‘advanced’ stage of talks as they look to appoint former Aston Villa boss Dean Smith as interim manager, according to reports.
Brendan Rodgers departed the club by mutual consent eight days ago, ending a four-year reign at the King Power Stadium, with the 50-year-old leaving the Foxes after a run of five defeats and one draw.
Jesse Marsch, who was sacked by Leeds United earlier this year, was mooted as a likely candidate to take over until the end of the season but that fell through during negotiations.
And now The Athletic journalist David Ornstein and some of his colleagues claim that Leicester are in ‘advanced discussions to appoint’ Smith as their new manager ‘on an interim basis until the end of the season’.
Smith has been looking for another job since being sacked by Championship side Norwich City in December with supporters critical of their style of play as well as results.
The report adds: ‘Smith worked with former Leicester manager Craig Shakespeare at Norwich, and is preparing to link up again with his former No 2, who has remained on good terms with chiefs at the King Power Stadium.’
Caretaker managers Adam Sadler and Mike Stowell were in charge as Leicester City lost 1-0 to relegation rivals Bournemouth over the weekend.
England midfielder James Maddison was guilty of gifting the Cherries the only goal, playing a blind back pass which was picked off by Philip Billing before he fired beyond Daniel Iversen five minutes before half-time.
But Bournemouth were worthy winners having created a string of chances throughout the first half and early in the second, with Leicester only belatedly coming to life after attacking substitutions around the hour mark and still then failing to carve out any clear opportunities.
When asked about links to Marsch, Sadler told reporters: “I’m not going to speculate on potential new managers. As it stands, the job Mike (Stowell) and I have been tasked with is to prepare this team the best we can. Whatever the club decide to do going forward is absolutely their preogative.
“The focus has been Mike and I giving these players the best version of ourselves to approach this challenge. We know it’s a big challenge and it’s one we’re up for. We’ve just been told by the club to do the work until told otherwise.”
Sadler has now overseen two home defeats since Rodgers was sacked eight days ago and the frustration of the fans was clear as boos rang out at the final…
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