Unai Emery has informed Sevilla of his wish to leave the club amid interest from
Paris Saint-Germain, with the La Liga club confirming they have lined up the Argentinian Jorge Sampaoli as his replacement.
Emery, who led
Sevilla to three Europa League titles in a row, is understood to be the favoured choice of the PSG president, Nasser al-Khelaifi, who earlier this month promised “big changes will happen” and publicly criticised the incumbent manager, Laurent Blanc.
While Blanc has not officially departed Parc des Princes, Khelaifi called PSG’s season, in which they won a domestic treble but were knocked out of the Champions League in the quarter-finals by Manchester City, a “failure” and said the club “must start a new cycle.”
Impressed by Emery’s accomplishments in continental competition, Khelaifi is now expected to begin formal contract discussions with the 44-year-old, although reports in France say there has already been contact between the parties. A deal may be confirmed this week.
Emery was also recently linked with the position at Everton but they are still expected to announce Ronald Koeman’s move from Southampton to Goodison Park in the coming days as Roberto Martínez’s successor.
Sampaoli, out of work since resigning from his position as head coach of Chile in January, will fly to Seville on Monday to discuss taking over at the Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán. The 56-year-old has enjoyed considerable success in South America but has not managed in Europe before. Sampaoli has previously said he missed out on the Chelsea job because his English was not good enough. Instead, that job went to the departing Italy coach, Antonio Conte.
