On Monday, following the weekend news that Dean Smith had been sacked from his job as Aston Villa manager and the subsequent rumours of Kasper Hjulmand being among the favourites to replace him, we did a little digging.
There wasn’t a lot in Denmark about it barring a few articles relaying claims from England, but what we did find was an interview from early October where the Denmark national team manager made it clear he had turned down a few offers in the summer and wasn’t looking to step down from his current position.
That suggested a switch to Aston Villa wouldn’t be on the cards for the 49-year-old, and with the international break now upon us, the local media got the chance to ask him directly about the rumours sending him to Villa Park.
Relayed by Ekstrabladet, he replied: “I am super happy to be the Denmark national team manager, and I am not going anywhere right now. I think I have only just started and I am in the process of finding out what this team can do. It’s quite natural (that the rumour has appeared). That’s the way it is. It happens all the time”.
Hjulmand was then asked if he wanted to rule himself out entirely of clubs potentially ‘getting hold’ of him, to which he said: “I don’t want to rule anything out. It’s ridiculous, but it’s huge to be the manager of the Danish national team”.
Right now, the manager is focusing on the games against the Faroe Islands and Scotland, hoping that his team continues their outstanding form, having won all eight of their games, scoring 27 goals and conceding none along the way.
We’ll have to wait and see whether Aston Villa can persuade Hjulmand to step away from his duties, but after the quotes above, it seems highly unlikely.
