Sven-Göran Eriksson rumored to be Guangzhou R&F’s next manager; GM says not a done deal

After sacking Sergio Farias a few weeks ago, Guangzhou R&F look set to announce Sven Goran-Erikkson as their next manager. Reports out of the Beijing Times are that the club and Erikkson are very close to signing an agreement which would see the Swede earn in excess of US$3 million a year.

Despite having not been seen by anybody, the paper says that Sven first visited Guangzhou for negotiations on May 21st, just days after Farias was fired and that while the club originally felt his demands were too high, in the end they acquiesced. The article states that Erikkson will arrive in Guangzhou tonight and be unveiled on Wednesday. It also quotes an unnanmed source at the club, but today in Soccer News the club’s GM, Zhang Bin, denies they have a candidate wrapped up, only stating that Erikkson is the front runner.

Sven is most famous for winning the Serie A with Lazio as well as managing England for five years. As of late, he has been very nomadic and rumored to be connected to a number of different jobs. Last year, he attended a match in Guangzhou and was connected to a footballing project in Yunnan province that has since stalled. He most recently served as technical director at Al Nasr, a position he held for six months and resigned from yesterday.

Guangzhou R&F surprised many with their debut performance in the top flight of Chinese football last season, but have come back down to earth this year. They drew against Changchun Yatai on Saturday and currently have 12 points in 12 matches and are in 13th place. The club’s star foreigner, Yakubu, has been rumored to be part of a change room mutiny against Farias this year and was reported to laugh when he found out the Brazilian was fired. Yakubu and Eriksson are said to be on good terms that date back to their mutual time spent at Leiceter City in 2011.