Michael Laudrup set to be named as new Swansea boss

According to Sky Sports Danish legend Michael Laudrup is set to be named as the new boss of Premier League Swansea City.

The 47 year-old has emerged as the leading contender to succeed Brendan Rodgers, who joined Liverpool earlier this month.

Candidates

Swansea have been linked with a number of bosses in their search for Rodgers successor.

The Swans held talks with Wigan assistant boss Graeme Jones but couldn‘t agree a deal with the former-Latic’s striker. Blackpool’s Ian Holloway and Brighton’s Gus Poyet have also been linked with the job.

Former-France and Chelsea centre-back Marcel Desailly is also believed to have turned down an approach from the club. However, it has now emerged that Laudrup and City are set for talks about the Dane becoming the new boss at the Liberty Stadium.

Style

Swansea played a very distinct style of football under Brendan Rodgers. They literally tried to play like Barcelona. Their style has proven hugely successful and helped the Swans to promotion and comfortable midtable position in the Premier League last season.

Laudrup knows all about that style of play having played for Barcelona under Dutch legend Johan Cruyff in their Dream Team. He played a key role in that team as an attacking midfielder. Laudrup would be a good person to carry on that football philosophy.

Decent

Michael Laudrup has a decent record as a boss. He has managed in three different countries in his ten year managerial career. He has managed in his homeland with Brondby, in Russia with Spartak Moscow and in Spain with Getafe and Mallorca.

He promoted an exciting passing game in his early days at Brondby and had relative success with Getafe. The former-Danish international had less success in Russia though, as he was sacked after just seven months.

Laudrup resigned from his post as Real Mallorca boss on September 27th, after the clubs directors decided to sack his assistant Erik Larsen. Laudrup had kept struggling Mallorca in La Liga despite a perilous financial situation.

Even though the former-Danish star is still considered a rookie boss he is very highly-rated as a boss in Spain and has previously been linked with high-profile positions at Atletico Madrid, Sevilla and Valencia.

Knowledgeable

From watching Laudrup as a television pundit you get the feeling that he knows the game inside out. He was a world-class player in his playing days and he obviously doesn’t want to waste the experience that he gained at the top of the game.

Profile

To be fair to the likes of Graeme Jones and Ian Holloway they don’t have the same high-profile of Michael Laudrup. I think the appointment of the former-Danish international would send out a message that Swansea is in the English top flight to stay.

Laudrup has lots of contacts at the top level of game and just his name would attract quality players to the Liberty Stadium. Holloway and Jones simply wouldn’t attract the same calibre of player. Laudrup would be an ambitious appointment but it seems that City are very ambitious.

Timing

Sometimes football is about timing, about people being in the right place at the right time and I think this could be one of those cases. Laudrup and Swansea have the same football philosophy of passing, attacking football and they seem to fit perfectly.

When Swansea lost Brendan Rodgers I’m sure that the clubs fans would have wanted somebody with similar ideals on how football should be played and Laudrup’s are very similar to those of Rodgers. Swansea and Michael Laudrup seem to fit very nicely at the moment.

Some people may claim that Laudrup would just be using Swansea as a stepping stone to a bigger club. However, if he moves to Swansea and takes the club a step further I don’t think anybody will be complaining if he then moves on.

At the moment I can’t see a better man for the Swansea job than Michael Laudrup and if he is appointed later this week I’m sure he will be a big hit in South Wales.

Is Michael Laudrup the right man for the Swansea job?