Sean Dyche is on the verge of being appointed Everton’s new manager.
Dyche has been out of work since a decade-long spell in charge of Burnley ended last April with the club mired in a Premier League relegation battle.
The 51-year-old is now set to to take the reins at Goodison Park, replacing Frank Lampard following his sacking on Monday, barely a full year in the role.
Blues’ majority shareholder Farhad Moshiri had initially targeted ex-Leeds United boss Marcelo Bielsa as his preferred candidate to succeed Lampard.
The Argentine, 67, flew in for talks with Moshiri in London on Thursday but is understood to have insisted on only stepping into the fold during the summer.
According to The Times, Bielsa made the extraordinary request of working with the club’s under-21 side as a prelude to taking the first-team reins.
Dyche, who had significant backing in the Goodison boardroom, was first linked with Everton in 2017 when Ronald Koeman’s 16-month tenure ended.
But the former defender maintained that he never received any approaches from the club at that time or indeed in 2021, following Carlo Ancelotti’s exit.
Everton’s soon-to-be 23rd permanent manager, the seventh in Moshiri’s reign, will take over a team lanuishing second from bottom in the English top flight.