Swansea City have now held talks with Vitor Matos as a replacement for Alan Sheehan, with Kim Hellberg now being targeted by a different Championship club.
Hellberg travelled to London to hold talks with Swansea last week, but there has been a twist, with the 37-year-old now of interest to Middlesbrough, following Rob Edwards’ departure to Wolverhampton Wanderers earlier this month.
As such, the Jacks may need to move on to alternative options to replace Sheehan, who was dismissed from his post last week, with his side making a poor start to the campaign, currently sitting in 18th place after taking just 17 points from their opening 15 Championship games.
Michael Carrick has been named as a potential target, with the Welsh club’s hierarchy said to be big fans of the former Boro boss, but a different, more left-field option is also of interest…
Swansea hold talks with Vitor Matos now 'leading contender'
As reported by the BBC, Swansea have held talks with several managers since parting ways with Sheehan, including Maritimo manager Matos, courtesy of the job he has done in the Portuguese second tier. TalkSPORT add that the young coach is now the ‘new leading contender’.
At just 37-years-old, the Maritimo boss is relatively inexperienced, having only started his current role back in June, but he does have experience working under Jurgen Klopp, working as an elite development coach at Liverpool from 2019 – 2024.
During that time, the former Liverpool coach received high praise from ex-Reds assistant Pepijn Lijnders, who is now at Man City: “He is a talented coach, a very intelligent coach.
“Having one really intelligent, talented coach for young players, he can inspire eight or nine of them – it’s really important to have the right people in front of them – he connects, he influences the boys on the pitch and trains with them.”
Much like Klopp, the Portuguese manager favours a forward-thinking style of play, with an attacking 4-3-3 formation his preferred system, and he has made a solid start to life at Maritimo since arriving in the summer.
Games
11
Wins
6
Draws
2
Losses
3
Points per game
1.82
That said, it would be a risk to appoint Matos, given his lack of experience, with the aforementioned BBC report also making it clear that Russell Martin is open to a return to Swansea, after leaving Rangers earlier this season.
Despite becoming the shortest-serving manager in the Gers’ history, Martin could be a solid appointment for the Swans, given his experience in the Championship, most impressively guiding Southampton to promotion with a play-off final victory against Leeds United in the 2023-24 campaign.
Russell Martin open to replacing Alan Sheehan as Swansea City boss Manager who called Swansea City fans "fantastic" open to replacing Sheehan
He’s out of work currently.
ByCharlie Smith