The 10 best available coaches this summer RANKED

Former managers of Liverpool, Manchester City and Tottenham are among the biggest names currently available.

Fortunately for them, there are some proven managers and promising coaches who are either available right now, or will be after the World Cup.

We’ve ranked the 10 best coaches who will be available this summer.

10. Thiago Motta

We’ve forgotten a bit about Motta, given it’s over a year since he was last in work.

He didn’t pull up any trees at Juventus, but there was a reason he landed the job in the first place, having worked wonders at Bologna

And you look at the way that things have gone at Juventus since his sacking, and the problems were surely bigger than him.

We could easily see him back in Serie A, continuing the league’s fine managerial merry-go-round tradition of the same names at the same clubs (Max Allegri at Napoli, you say? Sure) but we’d love to see him test himself in another country.

9. Thomas Frank

It’s only been a couple of months and Frank’s successor at Tottenham was ranting about the team “lacking in attack, midfield, defence and brain”.

Superb copy, Igor Tudor, we can only thank you.

Frank might also be feeling grateful that his largely miserable eight months in charge of Spurs might soon not look so bad in hindsight. Let’s see if Roberto De Zerbi can fix this mess.

The Dane didn’t rise to the occasion at Tottenham, that much is clear, but his steady, proven record over multiple seasons at Brentford should keep him in contention for solid, midtable jobs.

8. Xavi Hernandez

It’s approaching two years since Xavi left Barcelona after a tempestuous final few months.

Being patient and waiting for the right next job is wise (look at Graham Potter and Ange Postecoglou), but if he doesn’t return to the dugout by the start of next season he’s in danger of becoming the Catalan Curbishley. He needs to remind people of his existence.

The jury’s out on Xavi as a coach. His football wasn’t the beautiful tiki-taka you might’ve expected from an arch Cruyffist who enjoyed his best days playing under Pep Guardiola.

But it was relatively effective, and winning a La Liga title during Barca’s financial implosion is not to be sniffed at.

7. Eddie Howe

“Available” with an admittedly pretty big asterisk.

As with Jurgen Klopp when he left Liverpool, we’re completely inclined to take Howe at his word when he says he needs a rest. You could see the toll that the Newcastle job took on him.

We’d be amazed if Howe is back in work before Christmas, at the earliest, but it’s surely only a matter of time before he starts getting linked to vacancies again.

Our early money’s on Everton next summer after this underwhelming David Moyes sequel runs its course. Howe is famously a boyhood Evertonian, and it feels like the right fit. If that goes well, maybe we’ll finally see him managing England down the line.

6. Julian Nagelsmann

Two underwhelming major tournaments at the helm of Germany have seen Nagelsmann’s stock drop a bit. His next job in the club game will be something of a salvage job when it comes to his reputation.

It’ll be interesting to see what kind of job he gets next, with bags of experience at the age of 38. Taking RB Leipzig to the Champions League semi-finals and performing broadly to par with Bayern Munich, delivering an obligatory Bundesliga title, should see him land a decent European-level gig.

Back to the Bundesliga when the Borussia Dortmund job next comes up, maybe? We could certainly see him take on a new challenge in the Premier League, too.

5. Filipe Luis

We don’t follow Brazilian football that closely, but we were shocked at the news that Flamengo have sacked Filipe Luis earlier this year.

The 40-year-old has delivered no fewer than seven(!) pieces of silverware in his fledgling coaching career, including the Brazilian Serie A title and Copa Libertadores, South America’s answer to the Champions League.

His Flamengo team beat Chelsea in last summer’s Club World Cup, produced a creditable display against Bayern Munich and pushed European champions PSG all the way to penalties in December’s Intercontinental Cup final.

The baffling decision to dispense of his services could be a godsend for an ambitious, forward-thinking European club.

Appointing him would be a risk, given his lack of managerial experience in Europe, but surely one worth taking.

4. Arne Slot

We predicted six clubs where Slot could find himself next after his Liverpool sacking.

The Netherlands job has inevitably been mentioned after Ronald Koeman’s departure, but we can’t see him switching to international football just yet.

3. Didier Deschamps

Deschamps’ time with France is over but he is still only 57, suggesting his managerial career is not at an end.

He has club coaching experience too having led Monaco, Juventus and Marseille, winning trophies with all of them, and so should be a strong contender for any top job if he fancies it.

2. Antonio Conte

We haven’t included Jurgen Klopp in this list, because A) He’s technically in work, working in some consultancy role for Red Bull and B) Like Zidane and France, it appears little more than a formality that’ll be his next job.

You could say the same for Antonio Conte, who appears set to return to the Italy job after stepping down at Napoli at the end of last season. But it’s not confirmed just yet, so he’s technically available.

If a club is ambitious and doesn’t have the distraction of European football, Conte’s track record speaks for itself – an instant impact and titles delivered at Juventus, Chelsea, Inter and Napoli.

1. Pep Guardiola

The Catalans’ decade of unprecedented success at the Etihad means he’s earned himself a rest – but could a national team job tempt him out of any sabbatical?

It doesn’t look as though he’ll be throwing himself into another job any time soon, and managing another Premier League club feels borderline impossible, but that won’t stop the tabloids inevitably putting his name into the hat for every big job that emerges.

We’re fascinated to see what happens next. As long as it isn’t an easy cash grab out in the Middle East.

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