Florian Plettenberg claims that Southampton is still in negotiations with Danny Rohl, the manager of Sheffield Wednesday, who has become one of the front-runners to succeed Russell Martin.
The two Steel City clubs in particular, as well as several Championship clubs, are likely to be impacted by the decision to split from the former Swansea City and MK Dons manager.
The January transfer window for Wednesday’s bitter rivals may be impacted by the management change, but if the Saints steal their manager, the outcome may completely upend their universe.
Rohl’s name was on the lips of those touting possible candidates for Southampton to go for in the aftermath of Martin’s exit. They certainly appear to be very keen on their former assistant, who worked at St Mary’s during Ralph Hassenhuttl’s tenure in charge. Their reported pursuit of him has not ended, despite some potential complications.
Plettenberg, also known as Plettigoal on X, claims that the manager of Wednesday and his team are still in negotiations with the Premier League team.
There had been “concrete” negotiations between the two parties, the German journalist said on Monday, but no formal meetings had taken place. In just over a year, Rohl has transformed Wednesday from a team on the verge of relegation to a play-off contender.
There are other Championship managers that have been suggested to succeed Martin at St Mary’s. Carlos Corberan of West Bromwich Albion has also been suggested, but according to the Express and Star, the current 20th-place team in the top flight would have to pay “north of £3 million” to acquire him.
If Southampton does determine that Wednesday’s 35-year-old chief is the right guy for them, a similar problem might occur. In the summer, Rohl signed a new deal with the team, but talkSPORT claims that the compensation amount they would have to pay the Hillsborough locals to get him to leave the Owls and return south could be a problem.
When there was a question over whether the German would commit his future to Wednesday, he was being looked at by other second tier sides, including Hull City and Sunderland.
Given the fact that the Owls had barely avoided relegation that season, these links weren’t that outlandish. He’d made it very clear in the past though that the Premier League was ultimately where he wanted to end up. Now that opportunity is potentially there for him, although he’d probably be back in the Championship before he knew it if he did join Southampton.
It was inevitable given his capabilities that higher ranking sides were going to come knocking, which is why it was so important to get him to agree to a new deal. Now Wednesday are financially covered if he does leave in a way that they might not have been had Rohl left before the summer.
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