Sousa Is 7/4 Favourite For Leicester Job

Paulo Sousa has emerged today as the bookies' favourite to take over at Leicester City, following Nigel Pearson's recent move to Hull City.

Bookmakers Victor Chandler have our manager as 7/4 favourites, with Sky Bet offering even worse odds at 10/11. Sousa is ahead of Brendan Rodgers, Tony Mowbray, Iain Dowey, Phil Brown and Gareth Southgate amongst others to take the job at the Walkers Stadium.

A Victor Chandler spokesperson explained to the Evening Post that Sousa has been continually backed by its customers each time they've decreased the odds from 20/1. Such constant bids and the fact that Sousa is often linked with new manager jobs are the reasons why he's the favourite.

'We always put Sousa in contention when we frame up these manager markets as he seems to be a man in demand,'

'But there's not a great deal of money at Leicester, certainly no more than Swansea, and we felt he would be an unlikely candidate. We felt he'd wait for something bigger if anything. But it wasn't long before the initial price of 20-1 was backed.

'We cut it to 10-1 and that got backed as well.

'We went 6-1, then 7-2 and then 9-4 favourite, and each time it got backed again.

'The betting suggests that there is a little more substance to this than just a blind stab in the dark from the punters. It will be interesting to see what happens.'

A local bookmakers, Mark Javis also said:

'The word on the street is that Paulo is the man for Milan and that's reflected in his odds,'

'I think the problem the fans have at the moment is that they don't know to what extent these potential investors will be involved,'

'They don't know if they are looking at a complete takeover or just playing some part in the club's future with Mandaric still at the helm.'

Despite these strong links, chairman Huw Jenkins says he's received no contact from Leicester City about Sousa's availability:

'I have never had a letter, an email or a phone call from anybody at Leicester City,'

'There hasn't been any contact and I have got no idea whether they are interested in Paulo.'

'I am not commenting on speculation.

'I had a meeting with Paulo (yesterday morning) and he is concentrating on Swansea City.'

It's inevitable for Sousa to be linked with a job like this. There wasn't much between the Swans and Leicester City last season and with Pearson's departure, the Foxes will be looking for a manager who can maintain last season's solid 5th-place finish. Sousa fits that bill after achieving 7th place with the Swans last term, despite working on a small budget in his first year at the helm.

Who knows yet what'll happen with this one. Sousa has been linked with a number of jobs in his short spell at the club but they were all nothing more than media speculation.

However, there seems to be more substance to this story, but if Leicester City were looking to appoint him hopefully he'll prefer to stay here instead.

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