Gus Poyet remains in frame for Swansea job as former Chelsea boss Avram Grant enters race

Gus Poyet remains in the running for Swansea job along with the unlikely figure of Avram Grant

GUS POYET remains in the frame to replace Garry Monk despite distancing himself from the Swansea job as the unlikely figure of Avram Grant also entered the fray.

 

Former Sunderland boss Gus Poyet is the bookmakers' favourite to take over from Monk, who was sacked on Wednesday with the club just one point above the relegation zone.

But the Uruguayan, currently in charge of AEK Athens, told reporters in Greece that suggestions he was set to make a return to the Premier League were "nonsense".

"These stories come out when the team are in a decent form and the results are good. If AEK didn't go well, my name would not be linked," he said.

 

Garry Monk has parted company with Swansea after just one win in 11 Premier League games

"I am not in a hurry, I'm waiting to see how things are going because you lose time when you consider what the future will bring.

"I have made no contact at all. I was informed that a paper wrote that Reading are interested in me as well. Maybe you know more than me."

Mark Warburton is another strong candidate to drop out of contention. Swansea had made contact with the Rangers boss but he was believed to have had reservations over the club's transfer structure.

Warburton left Brentford partly due to a lack of control over signings, and felt operating with Swansea chairman Huw Jenkins overseeing recruitment would not be the right step for him.

He is the latest British candidate to fall out of the running after Brendan Rodgers turned down a return to his former club, while David Moyes was never a genuine candidate.

 

Former Chelsea and West Ham boss Grant has become the latest name to enter the frame, although it is thought Swansea are highly unlikely to appoint the 60-year-old despite his undoubted experience, as they seek a younger manager.

Dennis Bergkamp remains high on Jenkins' wanted list, as does the former Arsenal man's old Holland team-mate Clarence Seedorf, although the latter's situation is complicated by him still being under contract with AC Milan until the summer, despite being sacked by the Italian giants last year.

Options in Spain are also being assessed by Jenkins and the Swansea board ahead of an appointment they hope to make early next week before a crunch home meeting with West Ham.

In the meantime, club great Alan Curtis will be placed in caretaker charge for the daunting trip to Manchester City after three members of Monk's coaching staff followed their former boss through the exit door.

Assistant Pep Clotet and first-team coaches James Beattie and Kristian O'Leary were all dismissed yesterday. For O'Leary it ended a 21-year association with the club across spells as a player and a coach.