Interim England manager Lee Carsley believes the job should go to the best candidate, regardless of nationality, amid reports Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola has been asked about his interest in the role. Carsley has distanced himself from leading the Three Lions on a permanent basis in recent days after declaring England deserve a “world class coach who has won trophies” he is yet to lift early in his managerial career.
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Guardiola is out of contract at the end of the season and would be a dream appointment for the English Football Association (FA) after winning six Premier League titles in his eight seasons at City. The Times reported on Monday that the FA made an informal approach to Guardiola at the beginning of the season over his availability to succeed Gareth Southgate.
“I haven’t decided yet. And it is not even true that I will be the next England coach. If I had decided I would say it,” Guardiola told Italian TV show Che Tempo Che Fa on Sunday.
Former Bayern Munich and Chelsea coach Thomas Tuchel is another of the leading candidates for the job. England have twice before been managed by foreign coaches in Sven-Goran Eriksson and Fabio Capello.
“No, definitely not. I think it’s important that the best candidate gets the job,” Carsley said on whether the England manager had to be English.
“We’ve seen in the past that we’ve had different nationalities coach the team. The best candidate should get the job. I think we’d be putting ourselves in a corner if we didn’t, and we didn’t open our minds a bit.”
Carsley is still expected to take charge of England’s final Nations League group games against Greece and the Republic of Ireland next month. The 50-year-old’s chances of landing the job full time were severely dented by a 2-1 defeat at home to Greece last week after he named an experimental line-up.
Carsley led England’s under-21 side to victory at the Euros in 2023 and said a rare taste of defeat on the international stage was tough to take.
“The hardest bit would probably have been the last two days because I’m not used to losing with the 21s,” he added. “I wouldn’t say we’re fortunate, but we win a lot of games, so every time I go on camp I generally win two games and go home. To lose a game at Wembley in front of a full house was something I really took personally.”
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