Paulo Fonseca seems to now be on that list. The list which is thrown up anytime a reasonable managerial job in English football becomes available.
As soon as a manager is sacked, in this case Steve Bruce at Aston Villa, a group of names emerge and are talked up to varying degrees. Fonseca is on it, Thierry Henry is a recent addition, Brendan Rodgers has been there for a while, Andres Villas Boas gets a look in, Claudio Ranieri is a regular feature, and Quique Sanchez Flores usually isn’t missing.
With the bookmakers, Fonseca is currently joint favourite with Dean Smith for the Aston Villa job, and all the others appear at varying stages of the list.
When Fonseca was first linked, and strongly, it seemed rather curious. That’s because even when Everton and West Ham were said to be in for him, with their status and recent investment, it was thought in the Ukraine that leaving Shakhtar Donetsk could be too big a negative if the interested clubs weren’t in the Champions League.
Everton and West Ham links were helped by Fonseca’s contract being close to running out, but then he renewed so getting him now would be even more difficult.
Happy in his work, although having Premier League ambitions, and happy with his life in the Ukraine, where he’s very much respected and treated well, a move to a club 13th in the Championship, however big Aston Villa are, just doesn’t seem fitting.
It would take huge persuasion and money, and that’s before the task of convincing Shakhtar Donetsk could be considered.
Nevertheless, the Ukraine press have been covering links, and now Football24, one of the major outlets for the game in the country, goes some way to dismiss it.
They say Fonseca is ‘unlikely to agree to such an offer’, and point out he turned down Everton not so long ago. It’s explained the coach is ‘constructing a new Shakhtar’ and ‘throwing it all away would be very strange’.
And given Aston Villa want a new manager quickly, it’s made clear that leaving Shakhtar at a crucial stage of their season is ‘not an option’ for Fonseca.
