‘Leicester announcement incoming as Van Nistelrooy to be sacked for Russell Martin’
Leicester City are expected to announce imminently that they will be sacking Ruud van Nistelrooy and replacing him with Russell Martin.
Van Nistelrooy took over from Steve Cooper after just 12 matches this season, but could not keep the Foxes in the top flight.
The Dutchman was appointed with the former Premier League champions just one point clear of the relegation zone, but their drop back down to the Championship was confirmed with five games remaining.
Martin himself was sacked by Southampton in December, after the Saints fell to 13 losses in their first 16 games.
The former Swansea boss will be looking to engineer an immediate return to the Premier League for the Foxes.
Van Nistelrooy replaced by Martin at Leicester
Football Insider exclusively revealed earlier this week (20 May) that Leicester had decided to sack Van Nistelrooy.
Later that day (20 May), Football Insider had a further exclusive, revealing that Leicester were in advanced talks to appoint Martin as their new manager.
Now it seems as if an official announcement is imminent, with the manager switch set to be confirmed next week.
According to talkSPORT reporter Geoff Peters on X (25 May), it is expected that the Foxes will announce the departure of Van Nistelrooy, and appoint Martin as his successor within the next few days.
Championship completely different environment
Football Insider Verdict
When he was sacked by Southampton, Martin’s stock was incredibly low, due to the way his Saints side had capitulated in the Premier League.
However, just six months earlier, he had guided them to a magnificent play-off final win over Leeds at Wembley.
The former Scotland defender has a specific style of play as a manager, and refused to change from his high-risk possession system, even when results when downhill.
| Position | Team | Games | Points |
| 1 | Bayern Munich | 34 | 82 |
| 2 | Bayer Leverkusen | 34 | 69 |
Vincent Kompany did much the same thing with Burnley, but ended up getting a massive move to Germany and guiding Bayern Munich to the Bundesliga title.
Clearly, this style of play works with better players, and Leicester’s squad is levels below the Bayern team, but in the Championship it will be a lot easier for Martin to utilise his system, without the punishing nature of the Premier League.