Crystal Palace are allegedly still interested in Lille coach Paolo Fonseca as the Premier League club looks for a long-term replacement for Roy Hodgson.
Returning to Selhurst Park for a second term after a disastrous conclusion to the Patrick Vieira period, 76-year-old Roy Hodgson is beginning to seem like a bad habit Crystal Palace can’t break.
While Hodgson has presided over an impressive series of results since being parachuted back in six months ago, the fact that Palace turned to the most familiar of faces following Vieira’s sacking doesn’t exactly reflect well on the club’s strategy or long-term blueprint.
According to reports, a guy a quarter-century Hodgson’s junior has already been lined up to take over in 2024, indicating that Palace are aware of the need to move on and plan for both the near and long future.
Crystal Palace could be taken over by Paolo Fonseca.
On Twitter (OK, Elon, ‘X’), reporter Ignazio Genuardi reports that Paolo Fonseca has fans in South London.
The Iberian, 50, has been on Palace’s radar for some time. The Eagles had included Fonseca on their list of potential Hodgson replacements before awarding the former England manager a one-year extension, according to The Guardian, and he is likely to be at the forefront of Steve Parish’s thinking again a few months down the line.
Fonseca, now at Lille in Ligue 1, has won nine trophies in his coaching career, having previously held positions at Porto, Braga, and Shakhtar Donetsk. He also led Roma to the Europa League semi-finals and was set to take over at Tottenham Hotspur in 2021 before the talks fell through.
Fonseca is regarded as ‘exceptional’ by Thierry Henry.
Meanwhile, Fonseca’s adaptable, dynamic style should fit a Palace squad brimming with technically brilliant, up-and-coming players.
“What the coach is doing is extraordinary,” Premier League star Thierry Henry said of Fonseca, who has made an impression on a free-flowing Lille team.
“A four-man defense that transforms into a three-man defense.” They play, press, and score.”
“Sometimes in football, things get too serious. “Sometimes you have to make people smile,” Fonseca explains on the Ligue 1 website, sentiments that Ebere Eze and Michael Olise would appreciate.
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