Leicester City have confirmed that Ruud van Nistelrooy has mutually agreed to leave the club after failing to keep the club in the Premier League.
The decision was made on Friday morning, less than 24 hours after the Foxes found out their schedule for the 2025/26 Championship season. A statement read: "Ruud has overseen a challenging period for the Club.
"From his appointment in November 2024, he approached the role with professionalism, integrity and a clear commitment to our aims, including through the integration of several promising players from the Club’s Academy into our First Team environment. Ruud moves on with the respect and thanks of everyone at the Football Club for his dedication and hard work, and with our very best wishes for the future."
The feeling was that Van Nistelrooy would leave the club after City's relegation from the top-flight was confirmed in April. Now, with players set to return to Seagrave for the start of pre-season next week, preparation for the next season can finally get underway.
Russell Martin, before he took the Rangers job, Sean Dyche, Danny Rohl and Michael Carrick are all names who have been linked with the post since the end of last season.
Here, LeicestershireLive writers give their view on who they think should be in the dug-out at the King Power Stadium.
Josh Holland
I was one of Van Nistelrooy's biggest fans when he was appointed and one of his biggest defenders when the tide turned. But the Danny Ward debacle against Wolves, constantly starting certain players and his unwillingness to tweak his tactics meant he became impossible to defend.
His dismissal was always the right thing to do, it would have been levels of toxicity never seen before if the Dutchman took charge of the Sheffield Wednesday game after the way last season unfolded. For me, there's only one man for the job and that's Rohl.
Only 36, the German has worked at RB Leipzig, Southampton, the Germany national team and Bayern Munich as Assistant Manager before taking the Wednesday job. Since October 2023, he has been labelled as one of the most-exciting head coaches in football.
After keeping them up in Leicester's title-winning season, Rohl led the Owls to 12th last year despite the off-the-field issues. Reports that he is in talks to terminate his contract at Hillsborough offer encouraging signs that he could be the next man at LE2.
Sheffield Wednesday manager Danny Rohl has been named as a potential successor to Ruud van Nistelrooy
Sheffield Wednesday manager Danny Rohl has been named as a potential successor to Ruud van Nistelrooy (Image: George Wood/Getty Images)
Kieran King
For me, Dyche is the obvious pick. I can see the appeal for Rohl, of course, considering the impressive work he did at Sheffield Wednesday and the style of football he adopted, but I can't look past Dyche.
The ex-Burnley manager has previous experience of working under difficult circumstances with the threat of points deductions and he would give the dressing room a reality check - something that has been needed for some time.
While his approach isn't the best on the eye, I do think he would get the most out of the players available to him. He has won promotion from the Championship twice before and I do think he is the best option out there for City right now.
Go get Dyche in and back him, bring in a new old-fashioned centre forward and see what he can do with that group of players.
Amie Wilson
For me, there is one clear candidate for the job, and that is current Sheffield Wednesday manager Rohl.
The job the German has done at Hillsborough has been brilliant, when taking into account everything going on in the background at the club. The Owls looked down and out in the relegation fight when he took over in October 2023, and he managed to lead them to safety.
He build on that in the season just gone with a 12th placed finish. The team were even challenging for the play-offs at some points in the season.
Given the off-field issues at Sheffield Wednesday, and the squad available to him, it’s a brilliant achievement. He was able to build a good relationship with Wednesday fans, something that could be crucial in the new season, with the relationship between the team and fans needing to be rebuilt.
The fact that he is reportedly in talks with Sheffield Wednesday over his future means he could also be available for either a reduced or no compensation package at all. It’s an opportunity Leicester should jump at.
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