Aston Villa are on the look put for a new manager having sacked Dean Smith, with the Villains on a five-game losing streak following their defeat to Aston Villa on Friday night.
The 50-year-old former Walsall player and manager will leave with a high opinion from players and fans of his boyhood club, having earned them promotion to the top-flight via the Championship playoffs in the 2018/19 season from a poor position, before helping to consolidate their place in the Premier League.
Rangers manager Steven Gerrard is the bookies favourite to take over at Villa Park.
The 41-year-old former Liverpool midfielder has showcased his managerial credentials at Ibrox club in impressive fashion across the last few seasons, having broken Celtic’s nine-year dominance of Scottish football by winning the league title with their fierce rivals, going the whole season unbeaten whilst racking up 102 points.
Gerrard’s side have tended to play an impressive and aggressive attacking style which has seen them earn many plaudits, as well as going far in the Europa League with a slightly unfancied squad, putting Rangers back on the map on a continental stage following previous failures by the likes of Pedro Caixinha.
Roberto Martinez is also on this list of contenders to become Villa’s next manager.
The 48-year-old is best known in England for his time at Wigan Athletic where he won the FA Cup with the Latics in 2013 against Manchester City in the final at Wembley, following a stunning late header by Ben Watson. Since then, he made the move to Everton where he recorded the Toffees' second-highest Premier League finish in his first full season at Goodison Park, managing fifth-place in the 2013/14 season.
Following two more seasons that proved to be unsuccessful in his three-year spell at Everton, Martinez was sacked, but his promising style of play saw the Spaniard go on to prove himself at international level with Belgium, managing a third-place finish at the 2018 World Cup in Russia, as well as reaching the quarter-finals at Euro 2020 where his side were knocked out by eventual winners, Italy. Belgium were are also semi-finalists in the Nations League.
Martinez has the odds of 8/1 to return to the Premier League as manager of Villa.
Former Villa coach John Terry is also on this list of candidates having worked under Smith.
The 40-year-old recently left Villa Park as assistant manager following three years at the club where he plied his trade as a coach after his retirement from playing in 2018. In his time as assistant manager of Villa, Terry worked closely to manager Smith and experienced coaches such as Craig Shakespeare, previously manager of Leicester City in a spell that would’ve been very beneficial to any future managerial experience the former Chelsea captain pursues.
Terry is priced at 7/1 to succeed his former boss at Villa Park.
Denmark manager Kasper Hjulmand has also been linked to the managerial vacancy at Villa Park.
The 49-year-old has significantly boosted his reputation as a manager following Denmark’s incredible performance at Euro 2020, where they reached the semi-finals of the tournament, only being beaten by England after extra time.
So far in World Cup qualifying, Denmark have further impressed by winning all eight matches, scoring 27 and conceding none, in what could be another golden period for the Danish national team having previously won Euro 92.
Hjulmand has previously managed the likes of Mainz 05 where he succeeded Thomas Tuchel, as well as Danish Superliga side Nordsjaelland before becoming his countries national coach.
Villa are priced at 10/1 to appoint Hjulmand as their next manager.
Paulo Fonseca is the final manager on this list who has been linked to the vacant managerial role at Villa Park.
The 48-year-old recently left AS Roma which was his 11th job since 2007, having also managed the likes of FC Porto and Shakhtar Donetsk. Fonseca’s best spell as a manager came between 2016 and 2019 where he won three league titles managing Shakhtar, which was somewhat of a rebuild in his career, having only won the Supertaca Candido de Oliveira in 2013 with Porto following a 57% win percentage.
Fonseca’s second spell at Braga where he led them to a Taca de Portugal in the 2015/16 season lead him to the Shakhtar job. At Roma, Fonseca had a 52% win percentage having won 53 of his 102 games in charge, before leaving at the end of last season after a seventh-place finish, as two-place regression from his first campaign at the Stadio Olimpico club.
