Queens Park Rangers have reportedly made contact with Marti Cifuentes in their search for a new manager and the Spaniard could prove to be the Hoops’ own version of Graham Potter at Loftus Road.
Following Michael Beale’s exit last week, QPR are yet to appoint a new boss and are running out of time ahead of the resumption of the Championship season this weekend.
Considering the Hoops face table-toppers Burnley on Sunday, you would hope that they would have a new manager in place by then, or they risk derailing their own hopes of promotion this season.
According to Swedish news outlet Aftonbladet, QPR ‘have now made initial contact with Hammarby’ to request permission to speak with the 40-year-old regarding the vacancy at Loftus Road.
The Hoops have been linked with a plethora of names since Beale made the abrupt decision to join Glasgow Rangers last week but Cifuentes is certainly one of the more intriguing candidates, as he has no experience managing in English football.
However, his performance with Hammarby has certainly been impressive, as he has averaged a superb two points per game during his time with the Allsvenskan side, leading them to the European football for next season after securing a third-placed finish in the Swedish top-flight.
Cifuentes is certainly moving up the managerial ladder, as he has also caught the eye in previous spells with Aalborg BK in Denmark and Sandefjord in Norway, averaging a solid 1.51 points per game with both of those sides.
The fact that the Spanish manager is now performing so well in Sweden will have plenty of football fans thinking he could potentially follow a similar route to Graham Potter, who worked wonders with Östersunds FK before his move to Swansea City in the Championship.
He would get the Welsh side playing fantastic football and proved to be a huge success following his switch to Brighton & Hove Albion, which eventually saw him take over from Thomas Tuchel at Chelsea earlier this season.
The fact that the Englishman has gone from Swedish third-tier football with Östersunds FK to Champions League football with Chelsea in less than a decade is extremely impressive, and there seems no reason why Cifuentes can’t follow a similar path given his successful managerial career thus far.
If QPR don’t take a chance on him, then no doubt another English side will, and the Hoops may end up losing out on another top managerial prospect.
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