Last week, an interesting tidbit of information appeared in Sport in Spain, claiming that both Fulham and Aston Villa had been in touch with Oscar Garcia, former Brighton manager and now in charge of Saint-Etienne in Ligue 1.
The Catalan coach, who currently has Les Verts third in the French league after six games with 13 points, was apparently the man both sides were after if they decided/were forced to replace their current managers in Steve Bruce and Slavisa Jokanovic.
For Aston Villa, who are currently 13th in the Championship, it was more of a results problem, while Fulham, who are 14th, were allegedly keen on Garcia when rumours were sending their man to West Ham, struggling in the Premier League under Slaven Bilic.
That news made its way all around Europe, with some outlets even misinterpreting that the Hammers were interested, which wasn’t the case, yet few dared to comment on it.
Nothing emerged from Saint-Etienne, who only appointed the former Watford manager in the summer, and the only one who put forward their side of the story were the Birmingham Mail, labelling the rumours as ‘distasteful’, as no replacement rumours should circulate, regardless of results, and that no contact had been made by Aston Villa.
Maybe the French side felt there was no need to say anything, because they are confident Garcia is happy in Ligue 1, where he is doing well.
Either that, or the Aston Villa and Fulham rumours weren’t true in the first place.
