Jurgen Klinsmann is ready to become the new England manager, but the Football Association will have to move fast as he weighs up a host of offers from Europe — including one from a major Champions League club. The German is now the top candidate to replace Steve McClaren. The Mail on Sunday understands he is keen to discuss the prospect and prepared to move to London for what he sees as an exciting challenge to relaunch his coaching career. But FA chief executive Brian Barwick, who plans to discuss his strategy with director of football development Sir Trevor Brooking on his return from today's World Cup draw in Durban, wants to take his time appointing a new coach following the humiliating failure to qualify for Euro 2008. Barwick will also consider the merits of Fabio Capello before making a decision on Klinsmann and has not given up hope of landing Martin O'Neill, despite the Aston Villa manager's apparent refusal to put himself forward for the job.
But Barwick, who used Klinsmann as an analyst when he was head of BBC Sport, will be under pressure to make a quick decision if he wants the 43-year-old German who has already turned down opportunities to coach Chelsea, Tottenham and the USA. Klinsmann fulfils many of the criteria Barwick is looking for,having turned round a struggling German national team. He took over at their lowest ebb in 2004 and inspired them to reach the World Cup semi-finals in 2006 before resigning.
He would command respect in the dressing room and would also be a popular choice among press and public, given his reputation in England. This would outweigh the negative associations of having to turn to England's fiercest football rival, Germany, to save the national team. However, Klinsmann's tactical judgment is unproven given that he has only ever coached the German national side, This meant taking charge of friendly matches for two years before he oversaw only seven competitive games at the World Cup. There he relied heavily on his experienced No 2, Joachim Löw, who is now Germany manager.
Capello, the former Real Madrid, AC Milan, Juventus and Roma manager, is more experienced. He yesterday made it abundantly clear that he wants the job during television interviews and that the pressure associated with the job would not put him off. 'I would be proud if I could coach England,' said Capello. 'I believe all coaches or managers would want this chance to coach England and take on such a difficult challenge.
'Great challenges have always fascinated me and I still can't understand why a national side that has been made up of so many great and very great players has not been successful since 1966. 'I know the English media make their voices heard and are fairly severe with anyone involved in the national side. But I have been given a thorough training with the Italian and Spanish media, particularly in my last year with Real Madrid.' When The Mail on Sunday contacted him yesterday, Capello said: 'I think the interviews I've already done are sufficient for now. We will leave it at that for the moment, if you don't mind, because that is the way I would like to do it.'
The FA have not given up on O'Neill and Barwick will want to speak to the man he also successfully employed as a pundit at the BBC before accepting that the Villa manager does not want to be considered. O'Neill was Barwick's first choice to replace Sven Goran Eriksson before Premier League chairman Dave Richards persuaded the decision-making committee that McClaren was the best candidate. O'Neill is in a much stronger negotiating position now. His observation that he believes he could be the right man for the job might be taken more seriously than his affirmation that he wants to stay at Villa.
Among the fringe candidates, Alan Shearer would be considered a huge risk at this stage, given his lack of any coaching experience. Guus Hiddink, who has now suggested he may not continue with Russia after Euro 2008, is understood to value his private life too much to take the job. If Klinsmann is to be installed, he has already indicated he would be prepared to move from California to London, which would be ironic given that he consistently refused to move to Germany to manage his own national team. Klinsmann told German newspaper Bild Zeitung last April: 'I wouldn't rule out moving back to Europe.'
