Roberto Martinez still worth lumping on for Everton job

Roberto Martinez’s potential appointment as Everton manager early next week is still worthy of heavy backing.

Everton owner Bill Kenwright is said to be mulling over three options to replace David Moyes this summer, who left to take over from the retiring Sir Alex Ferguson at Manchester United.

Martinez is thought to front the trio, along with Porto boss Vitor Pereira and former Schalke coach Ralf Rangnick.

And while Rangnick (6/1) and Pereira (9/1) are more profitable candidates for punters, investing heavily on the Spaniard who remains at 4/7 remains worthwhile.

Pictures emerged earlier this week of Martinez and Kenwright meeting for talks in a London hotel, with the pair having discussed the vacant Everton hot-seat on two occasions.

Although Martinez is yet to be offered the job, he is reported to have impressed during his two interviews and will be confident of securing the switch from the DW stadium to Goodison Park.

Former Everton players Phil Neville (40/1), David Weir (25/1) and Alan Stubbs (16/1) have all been considered as internal candidates, but fell away from the remaining three.

Neil Lennon is among the frontrunners at 8/1, but this price should be avoided given his verbal intentions to stay at Celtic.

Rumours have suggested that Michael Laudrup could walk away from Swansea this summer and at 12/1 he could be worth a flutter to make a shock switch to Everton, while Cardiff’s Malky Mackay deserves a mention at 25/1.

A lot of money was wagered last week on Harry Redknapp cutting his losses at QPR and replacing Moyes after the ex-Tottenham manager spoke out about the uncertainty surrounding his future at Loftus Road.

At 40/1 Redknapp could be worth a small punt but in reality it seems that only one man is destined for the Merseyside position.

That is Martinez, who having turned down Aston Villa and Liverpool in the past, went to the lengths of telling Wigan chief Dave Whelan he wanted to leave the club before speaking with Everton.

Kenwright has publicly claimed that there is no favourite, but given his comments about finding a replacement similar to that of predecessor Moyes, opting for one of two coaches with no Premier League experience over Martinez seems unlikely.

The FA Cup winner finally added silverware to his blossoming CV last month, which he could improve further if he does indeed take the reigns at Everton.

All Odds and Markets are correct as of the date of publishing.