Following the 1-0 loss to Southampton, Aston Villa decided it was time to part ways with Dean Smith, the man who helped them return to Premier League.
Five defeats on the trot put too much pressure on the club, who currently sit 16th in the league after 11 games, causing the board to pull the trigger and with the task of replacing a very popular man.
Denmark national team manager Kasper Hjulmand has been named as an early favourite for the role due to his compatriot Johan Lange being the Aston Villa director of football, but that won’t be an easy task.
The 49-year-old has become increasingly popular following his team’s great run to the semi-finals during the 2020 Euros and their subsequent staggering form in the World Cup qualifiers, winning all eight of their games so far, scoring 27 goals and conceding none.
However, it appears Hjulmand isn’t interested in leaving his current role, saying as much in early October in an interview with Ekstrabladet, where he revealed he had turned down a number of offers of late.
He said: “I received several enquiries over the summer, but I have rejected them all. I haven’t spent two seconds considering the possibilities”.
Asked if this was because they weren’t interesting, he added: “No, not at all. These were super interesting enquiries, but I feel like I have just started as a national manager. There are a lot of things we are doing. Things that we need to develop and improve.
“I love the job. For me, it’s a big challenge to see how far we can go. How well we can get to play because we have a very exciting team with great potential”.
So, if those comments are anything to go by, regardless of whether Johan Lange is in the director of football role at Aston Villa, bringing Hjulmand to Villa Park will be a very difficult task.
They will need to be very convincing, especially with a lot of work needed to turn around their season and the fact Denmark are currently one of the more in-form nations in the world at this moment in time.
