Roberto Mancini has emerged as an option to replace David Moyes at West Ham but they will have to stump up to convince him, Calcio Mercato Web reports.
Although Brendan Rodgers was sacked by Leicester following defeat at the weekend it looks at this point that the Hammers boss has been backed by the board for the duration of the run-in to keep the club in the Premier League.
A lack of viable alternatives has been cited as the reason why the club has stuck with the embattled Scot [Guardian, 6 March] despite falling into the relegation zone before the 1-0 win over bottom side Southampton on Sunday (2 April).
But a summer change is a possibility, with Will Still linked to the job, and now a second Premier League-winning former Manchester City boss may be set to arrive at the London Stadium if Mancini follows in the footsteps of Manuel Pellegrini.
According to CMW, it will require a hefty wage packet of at least € 10 million [£ 8.8 million] on a multi-year deal and a “clear project” to convince the 58-year-old.
Mancini is also of interest to Paris Saint-Germain and has unfinished business with the national team after failing to qualify for the Qatar World Cup, but ahead of a summer review of his options, there is reportedly still interest in making his mark on the Premier League.
Real option
Mancini certainly has the credentials to take on this massively underperforming side and take them back to somewhere close to where they were expected to be.
It isn’t quite the same situation as the one he was drafted in to oversee at the Etihad 14 years ago but it certainly has plenty of parallels.
An ambitious club with several high-priced signings and a manager seen as incapable of taking them to the next level, playing in a stadium previously used for an international athletics tournament, is a description that fits the Mark Hughes-era Manchester City side just as it does this West Ham team.
And if anybody would be well-placed to get the best out of struggling Italian striker Gianluca Scamacca it is surely his former international manager.
Since the hierarchy has not come up with any options more suitable than Moyes, Mancini probably goes in at the top of the list of linked names.
Rafa Benitez has been suggested but it doesn’t appear that anybody is particularly well disposed to that idea, and in the absence of any alternatives Reims boss Still has sparked some intrigue due to his family links to the club, but the young coach would be a much greater gamble than the veteran Italian.
It wouldn’t be cheap but neither was the squad investment and what is the point of shelling out on players if you aren’t going to put the right person in charge?
But above all, it provides yet another reason why the struggling incumbent must keep the club in the top flight otherwise that caliber of replacement is immediately off the table.
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