Crystal Palace are expected to hand Arsenal and France legend Patrick Vieira his first managerial gig in the Premier League after reaching an ‘agreement in principle’ with the 45-year-old, who will succeed Roy Hodgson at Selhurst Park.
Vieira coached Manchester City’s Under-23 team for two and a half years before leading New York City in MLS and then Nice back home in France. He was sacked by the latter in December 2020 and has been working as a pundit on ITV’s coverage of Euro 2020 so far this summer.
Hodgson confirmed his departure from Palace in the final week of last season and the club have already turned to several different options in their search for a replacement.
Sean Dyche was a favoured target of chairman Steve Parish but is expected to sign a new contract with Burnley instead. The Eagles were also interested in Swansea boss Steve Cooper, only to baulk at the £3m fee required to release him from his contract in South Wales.
Palace have also considered Frank Lampard and Nuno Espirito Santo, while ex-Borussia Dortmund coach Lucien Favre looked set to take the job until a last-minute collapse in negotiations was caused by a disagreement over the proposed summer transfer budget.
But since that setback, Palace have moved quickly to all but secure Vieira as their new boss.
The Athletic report that an agreement in principle has been reached. Nothing has been signed just yet but there is an expectation that it will soon be ‘rubberstamped’.
A visa application for Vieira is said to be already in the works and there is a real possibility he could even be in the job by the time Palace begin pre-season training on Monday 5 July.
Vieira famously won three Premier League titles with Arsenal during his playing career, including captaining the club’s ‘Invincibles’ team in 2003/04. He later returned to England with Manchester City after spells with Juventus and Inter in Serie A, while he won the 1998 World Cup and Euro 2000 during a distinguished 107-cap international career with France.
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Source : 90min