BRIGHTON will target Ipswich boss Kieran McKenna if Roberto De Zerbi leaves the club this summer, according to reports.
The Seagulls have endured a torrid run of form, failing to win any of their last six Premier League games.
They have also picked up just six victories from their last 28 league matches.
That has seen De Zerbi’s side – who were in Europe this season – slip to 12th in the table, four points adrift of the top half.
And it has led to speculation over the future of Italian De Zerbi, 44, who took over in September 2022 and led Brighton to Europa League qualification last season.
He had been linked with moves to Liverpool and Bayern Munich, but appears to have been overlooked for both.
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Chelsea, Manchester United and AC Milan have also been mooted as potential destinations.
Now, according to The Guardian, the Seagulls have made Ipswich head coach McKenna, 37, their top target should they be looking for a new manager in the summer.
Brighton are understood to be “paying close attention” to the man who worked as a first-team coach under Jose Mourinho, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and Ralf Rangnick at Man Utd.
He joined the Tractor Boys in December 2021 and guided them to promotion from League One last season.
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Now they are on the brink of a second consecutive promotion, needing just a point from their final game of the campaign to secure a return to the Premier League after 22 years away.
However, reports are Brighton will push to bring McKenna in irrespective of whether or not Ipswich make it into the top flight.
McKenna is under contract with the Championship club until 2027
That means that Ipswich will be able to demand hefty compensation should he decide he wants to leave.
Klopp has botched his Liverpool exit… and it’s cost him his legacy, says Dave Kidd
By Dave Kidd
NOW we know Jurgen Klopp’s final major trophy haul at Liverpool — one Champions League, one Premier League, one FA Cup, two League Cups and (if you must) a World Club Cup.
But where does his reign stand among the greatest of the Premier League era?
In black-and-white terms, Klopp is way behind Sir Alex Ferguson and Pep Guardiola, the only two men to have won multiple Premier Leagues and a Champions League at the same club.
Those two sit alongside Brian Clough, Bob Paisley and Sir Matt Busby as the undoubted all-time managerial greats of the English game.
But Klopp ranks in the next tier down — with Arsene Wenger, Jose Mourinho (the Chelsea version), Bill Shankly and Don Revie.
These were all men with the strength of character to transform their clubs in their own image and enjoy success but who did not win as much as they might have done.
Had Klopp managed to keep his intentions under wraps and ended up with another title, perhaps even a treble or quadruple, he’d have edged himself up into that highest echelon with Ferguson, Guardiola, Clough, Paisley and Busby.
But deciding the timing and the manner of your exit is one of the toughest calls for any manager or sportsman.
Klopp got it wrong.
Read Dave Kidd’s take on Klopp’s demise in full here.
Or click here to check out all of Dave Kidd’s articles.
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
