Kim Hellberg admits that he held talks with Sunderland but the Championship club are now expected to hire someone else as their new manager.
On Tuesday afternoon, a few hours before Sunderland’s 1-0 victory over Leeds United at the Stadium of Light, reports emerged from Scandinavia suggesting that Kim Hellberg was set to take over at Hammarby instead.
The Black Cats held talks with Hellberg last week, per The Times, but appeared destined to miss out on a manager who led IFK Varnamo to a best-ever finish of fifth in the Swedish Allsvenskan.
Breaking his silence some 24 hours later, however, Hellberg had a very different take on things. It is not he who is turning down Sunderland but, perhaps, the other way around.
Kim Hellberg confirms Sunderland talks
“Nothing is complete until you have signed some papers. And, right now, I have not come close to doing that,” Hellberg tells Fotbolskanalen
“I was probably the odds-on favourite in Sunderland for a while. That’s how this industry works. There is often some kind of truth in most things that are written. But the honest answer is that I haven’t signed anything.
“Sunderland has come across my name, and there has been contact and there have been meetings. I don’t know how close (I was to getting the job). But there have been meetings. It has been interesting and fun to have been part of that process.”
Hellberg, who could now be confirmed as Hammarby’s new boss in the coming days, believes that he is no longer part of the thinking at the Stadium of Light. Sunderland are seemingly pressing ahead with discussions over Will Still instead.
“It is a fantastically big club with good people,” 35-year-old Hellberg adds, indicating that Sunderland have narrowed down their shortlist to two.
“Today, it feels like it will be someone else who coaches that club. But it was a great experience to have been part of the process. It has been a learning process.”
Black Cats zone in on Will Still
Sunderland, according to RMC Sport, have held talks with 31-year-old Still – the youngest coach in Europe’s top five leagues – after inviting him for discussions in London.
Julien Sable, Francesco Farioli’s assistant at Nice, has also been linked. But sources have played down his chances of getting the job.
The post 'Fantastically big club': Free-agent manager admits Sunderland talks appeared first on HITC.
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