U.S. national team head coach. Jurgen Klinsmann has been tipped to take over yet another Premier League club.
This time: Everton.
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With Roberto Martinez struggling in his third season with the Toffees as the Merrseyside sit in the bottom half of the table and having only an FA Cup semifinal to brighten up what’s been a dismal campaign so far, rumors have persisted that new majority owner Farhad Moshiri may look to freshen things up this summer and appoint a new manager.
As we reported last month, Martinez is being questioned by senior players at Everton in the dressing room and just this past weekend fans held up banners saying “Martinez Out” with the Toffees winless streak now at four games. He has also been locked into a rather public spat with Leighton Baines over the left back claiming the team lacked “chemistry” this season.
Ian Darke of ESPN and BT Sport sent out the message below on Wednesday morning, prompting Everton fans across the world to scramble for their smartphones, laptops etc. to look up Klinsmann’s record with the U.S. national team over the past few years.
ProSoccerTalk contacted U.S. Soccer for a comment on the speculation and their answer was quite simple and expected: we don’t comment on speculation. Plus there has been confirmation that Everton had not been in touch with U.S. Soccer.
Klinsmann is currently the 10-1, fifth favorite to become the next Everton manager with the bookmakers in the UK. He sits behind Roberto Mancini, Manuel Pellegrini, Marcelo Bielsa and David Moyes who is the favorite to step in should Martinez get the sack.
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It is worth noting that Klinsmann is good friends with countryman and Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp, as the former advised Liverpool about their trip to the West Coast of the U.S. this summer for the International Champions Cup.
Klinsmann has previously been linked with both the Liverpool and Aston Villa jobs in the Premier League, plus is always included in a small pack of outsiders by the bookies when most PL jobs become available.
The German coach is still fondly thought of in England after his goalscoring exploits for Tottenham in two separate spells as a player, but it’s hard to see Klinsmann swapping his idyllic life with his family in California and a long-term project with the U.S. national team for the often volatile and short-term nature of management in the PL.
However, now is an interesting time for Klinsmann if there is an offer on the table. Two years out from the 2018 World Cup in Russia, what if the U.S. national team fails badly in the Copa America Centenario this summer? They have Colombia, Costa Rica and Paraguay in a tough Group A and if they bow out at the Group Stage on home soil, U.S. fans will be calling for his head. Does he really want “fired” on his resume? It would be a big call for Klinsmann to decide to move back to club management where he’s only previously had one brief, and unsuccessful, spell in charge of Bayern Munich in 2008-09.
USMNT fans, what do you think about Klinsmann leaving for the Toffees? Is that a good or bad thin for the U.S. national team?