The former Chelsea boss is the favoured candidate of the
Wearside club to replace Paolo Di Canio but is believed to be have doubts over
taking over the Black Cats
Sunderland have made Roberto Di Matteo their No.1 target
to replace Paolo Di Canio - but face a battle to persuade the former Chelsea
manager to take the job.
Goal understands that Black Cats chiefs have already put
out informal feelers to Di Matteo’s camp to inform him of their interest in him
taking over at the Stadium of Light.
Formal talks will be scheduled imminently but Sunderland
accept they must persuade the 43-year-old that the vacant post would be the
right career move.
The Wearside club are believed to be in no rush to make
an immediate appointment and are content for caretaker manager Kevin Ball to
stabilise the squad over the next two games.
The long-serving former skipper and current Sunderland
Under-21s manager has been placed in charge of the first team for Tuesday
night’s Capital One Cup clash against Peterborough United and is also expected
to be in the dugout for Sunday’s home match against Liverpool.
Sunderland sources have told Goal that the board
"want to leave a bit of distance" between Di Canio’s reign and the
start of the new manager’s tenure, which might not even begin until after the
club's home fixture against Manchester United on October 5.
Gus Poyet and Tony Pulis have been among the other names
linked to the job but Di Matteo is the favoured candidate of the club’s Italian
sporting director Roberto De Fanti.
Di Matteo has been out of work since being sacked as
Chelsea manager last November but his stock remains high after winning the
Champions League and FA Cup during his eight-month spell at Stamford Bridge.
He is regarded by Sunderland as a steady pair of hands
following the abrasive regime of Di Canio, who was sacked on Sunday night with
the club bottom of the table following a run of one draw and four defeats from
their first five Premier League matches.
However, Di Matteo is understood to have reservations
about taking over at a club where there was such a high degree of player
turnover during the summer, with 14 new players signed and 13 others sold or
released.
After his surprise appointment in place of Martin O’Neill
in March, Di Canio made an immediate impact by steering the club away from
relegation, but his reign was marked by dressing room unrest and
dissatisfaction among his players with his volatile management style.
The tipping point is believed to have been dressing room
showdowns in the immediate wake of Saturday’s 3-0 defeat at West Brom, and then
again at the training ground on Sunday.
Word got back to the board and, with the club desperate
not to get sucked into a relegation battle for the second consecutive season,
American owner Ellis Short gave the green light for Di Canio to become the
first top-tier managerial casualty of the season.
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