November 14, 2021 thesundaytimes.co.uk/sport

Gareth Southgate admitted that the

talented group of players at England’s

disposal is too good to walk away

from, when explaining his desire to

extend his contract beyond the 2022

World Cup.

Southgate is expected to confirm

that he has agreed a new deal with

the Football Association after

England’s final 2022 qualifier in San

Marino tomorrow. It is thought his

extension will run until after the

Manchester United are working to

persuade Zinédine Zidane to succeed

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s as the Premier

League club’s manager after a series

of debilitating results and

performances under the Norwegian.

Although Zidane — a winner of

three Champions League and two La

Liga titles as a coach — is understood

to be unsure whether the opportunity

presented by United is the right one

to take at this point, United’s

hierarchy are hopeful that the

Frenchman’s close relationships with

their key summer signings Cristiano

Ronaldo and Raphaël Varane can

help to convince him to join.

Zidane, 49, is a free agent after

electing to step down as Real Madrid

coach for a second time last May and

can be hired without negotiating a

compensation package. The former

France international’s track record of

delivering major trophies while

developing younger players at Madrid

also marries with the “cultural

reboot” story United have sold to

supporters as mitigation for Solskjaer

overseeing their longest trophy

drought in more than three decades.

The Glazer family’s discontent

with Solskjaer’s performance as

manager has been growing during a

spell in which his leadership of the

second-most expensive squad of

footballers ever assembled has

resulted in six defeats in 12 games.

Man Utd

stepping

up bid for

Zidane

SPORT

BOTHAM

LAID BARE

CRICKET LEGEND TALKS

WITH DAVID WALSH

ABOUT THE ASHES,

RACISM AND MARRIAGE

PAGES 17-

Full back Freddie

Steward scores

England’s first try at

Twickenham

Steward stars as

England enjoy

eighth straight

Test win over

Wallabies,

pages 2-

FOOTBALL COVERAGE, PAGES 10-

TIMES PHOTOGRAPHER MARC ASPLAND

Duncan Castles

Southgate

set to sign

contract

extension

European Championship in 2024 and

net him about £5 million a year plus

bonuses, making him the second

most highly paid England manager

after Fabio Capello.

However, money is not at the root

of his motivations — rather it is the

buy-in that he has with the young

squad he has been shaping since the

2018 World Cup. Asked if he could

imagine turning his back on such a

gifted group, he agreed he could not.

“As a manager you want to work

with good players. You can challenge

them in a different way,” Southgate

said. “There aren’t a huge number of

jobs out there and being the manager

of England is a massive privilege, so

of course I take that responsibility

really responsibly. It means a lot to

me to be in the position I am.”

England need merely to avoid

defeat in San Marino, against a nation

who have never won a competitive

match in 29 years of trying. They will

be without Mason Mount and Luke

Shaw, with a debut for the Arsenal

goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale likely.

Jonathan Northcroft

IRELAND BEAT

ALL BLACKS

For reports and analysis of the

men in green’s 29-20 win from

Peter O’Reilly and David

Walsh, see pages 6-

Freddie,

Ready,

go!

32 15

ENGLAND AUSTRALIA