Unknown Englishman could pip Man Utd great to Swansea job

Ryan Giggs is the man currently being most talked up in the back pages for the vacant managerial position at Swansea City.

Ladbrokes make him the 7/1 joint-fourth favourite, with only Gus Poyet, Unai Emery and Jorge Sampaoli seen as more likely candidates.

It was long thought that the Manchester United assistant manager would take over at Old Trafford eventually after staying on under Louis van Gaal’s tutelage, but now it seems he wants to move away from the club he’s spent 28 years at to start his managerial career.

Seeing Gary Neville, his fellow Class of 92 alumni, get his first job in management at Valencia could have persuaded Giggs that the time is right for him too and the prospect of managing a Welsh club in the Premier League must be alluring for the former captain of the Dragons.

However, a surprise candidate is emerging that could stop the 42-year-old’s ascent to the hotseat at the Liberty Stadium.

Graham Potter has emerged from nowhere (well not nowhere, Sweden) to be linked with the vacancy by the Daily Mail.

After having an average playing career, with York City being the side he played the most games for in a 12-year career, Potter took up the reins of Ostersunds FK in the Swedish fourth tier in 2011.

It took the 40-year-old only five seasons to get the team up to the top-tier and this success is something that must have been noticed by the Swansea board.

The Swans used the Swedish minnows as a feeder club in 2007 and this existing knowledge of the team must have made Potter’s exploits more known to Huw Jenkins and company.

Jenkins has previously alluded to the fact that they were seeking to appoint someone from a foreign league and the Ostersunds gaffer fits this criteria, Giggs does not.

The former-Wales winger still looks the most likely to get the nod, given the sheer volume of paper talk about his potential appointment, but if the Swans decide to avoid appointing a Cardiff-born boss then Potter could prove a canny appointment.

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

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