The Football Association has identified Pep Guardiola as its dream target but is not hopeful of securing a deal for the Manchester City manager, with Lee Carsley no longer under consideration to become England’s permanent head coach.
The FA included Guardiola on its shortlist at the beginning of a process to find a successor to Gareth Southgate and is understood to have contacted him at the start of the season to gauge his interest. Representatives of other candidates believe Guardiola is the top choice by far.
A deal, though, would be difficult to close. Guardiola is out of contract next summer and said on Italian TV at the weekend that “anything can happen” in terms of his future but he would have to accept a significant wage cut to take the England job and will not be short of offers if he leaves City, who are desperate for him to stay.
The out-of-work Thomas Tuchel is another option, although he too would need to take a salary drop. He is believed to have reservations about the role. Eddie Howe and Graham Potter are the leading English candidates. Howe is focused on his work at Newcastle, where his contract has a release clause of about £5m. Potter is between jobs, having left Chelsea in April 2023. It is unclear whether Potter would want to manage England at this stage of his career; there is a feeling that he is leaning towards a return to club management.
Carsley is due to stay in interim charge for the final set of Nations League group‑phase ties in November but is not regarded as a long‑term solution. There have been serious doubts over whether he wants the job and it has been impossible to ignore the fallout from the 2-1 defeat by Greece at Wembley last Thursday and Carsley’s struggles since to communicate effectively his position. He has consistently refused to rule himself in or out of the running. The expectation is that he will return to his job as the England Under-21s coach.
The FA has maintained that it has a comprehensive process through which it is working. After the November games England are scheduled to play in March when they will start their World Cup qualifiers, unless they are contesting a Nations League playoff.
Recruitment is being led by the FA’s technical director, John McDermott, and Mark Bullingham, the chief executive. Bullingham indicated in June that he would be happy to appoint a head coach from overseas, saying the England women’s head coach, Sarina Wiegman, is Dutch. Carsley has made clear he does not want to have a say in choosing Southgate’s permanent successor because he has enough on his plate but he thinks the choice does not need to be English.
“It’s important that the best candidate gets the job,” Carsley said. “We’ve seen in the past that we’ve had different nationalities coach the teams, so the best candidate should get the job. We’d be putting ourselves in a corner if we didn’t open our minds a bit. It’s important that any job that’s available, you know … everyone that’s at that level should apply for it.”
Carsley sidestepped a question about whether he would want to work as the assistant to a new England manager. “Well, I really enjoy my job, [with] the 21s,” he said. “I work for a great organisation. It’ll be down to John and my bosses to choose what I do. Whatever I’m asked to do, I’ll do.”
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Carsley’s default move has appeared to be the sidestep. He was asked yet again whether he wanted to be considered for the full-time post. “Well, I’m doing the job so I imagine I am being considered,” he replied. Could he be described as a candidate? “I’m doing the job at the minute, the remit hasn’t changed … I know I keep saying the same answer!” At which point Carsley bowed forward with his head in his hands, like a player who has scored an own goal.
Carsley responded with a question when he was asked what he had found to be the most difficult aspect of the England job. “What, apart from this bit [talking to the media]?” he replied, which was revealing. “The hardest bit would probably have been the last few days because I’m not used to losing. With the 21s, we win a lot of games so every time I go on camp I generally win two games and go home. So to lose a game at Wembley in front of a full house was something I really took personally.”
England are investigating the possibility of a post-season June friendly in the US, the country which will co-host the 2026 World Cup. It would fall days before the Club World Cup and is unlikely to be well received by players, many of whom feel there are too many matches, or by club managers.