Simonis now among top choices for new Wolfsburg coach | OneFootball

Sky's Florian Plettenberg reports that Paul Simonis, the current manager of Eredivisie side Go Ahead Eagles, is now among the top two options to take over the head coach position at VfL Wolfsburg. Plettenberg states that he is the top candidate of the Niedersachsen club, but other sources state that the club is actively battling with RB Leipzig for Jacob Neestrup's signature.

The two parties have not concretely agreed on a contract yet, but Plettenberg reports that Wolfsburg and Simonis have been in conversation and that the results have been good so far. Executives of Go Ahead Eagles will be meeting with Wolfsburg representatives on Tuesday to discuss whether a move to Germany would be possible for the 40-year-old Dutchman.

Dutch football newspaper Voetbal International reports that Simonis wants to know where he will be going as soon as possible. Their report states, “The expectation in Germany is that Wolfsburg will report to Deventer this week. In order to prevent a soap opera, Simonis wants clarity about his future quickly”.

If the deal is completed, Wolfsburg will need to pay a transfer fee to Go Ahead Eagles, since Simonis extended his contract with the Dutch club just two weeks ago, with the new term lasting until 2027; at the time, Simonis said to the media that the contract proposal “showed a lot of confidence and appreciation”. Ajax, who were previously interested, would have done the same, although they ended up passing on Simonis and instead signed Liverpool assistant manager John Heitinga to a two-year contract.

Simonis and Neestrup are not the only candidates; a few other coaches have been linked to the club, including Alexander Blessin and Danny Röhl, as well as Brian Priske, who, like Neestrup and Wolfsburg's managing director for sport Peter Christiansen, is from Denmark.

Neestrup worked with Christiansen at the time that the latter was the director of professional football for FC København last year - RB Leipzig are also interested in signing Neestrup as their replacement for Marco Rose, putting more pressure on Die Wölfe to make sure that he does not go there.

Neestrup is technically still an option, but FC København published a statement yesterday, which included the following sentences: “Jacob Neestrup will also be in charge as head coach for FC Copenhagen in the upcoming season. The inquiries that have been made to the head coach have been rejected”.

Priske, who was the head coach of Feyenoord before the two agreed to part ways in February, is no longer an option - within the last 24 hours, he signed with Sparta Praha in Czechia, the same club where he previously coached before moving to the Netherlands. Blessin is currently managing FC St. Pauli, but is, like Neestrup, linked to both Leipzig and Wolfsburg; Röhl has stated that he wants to work in the Bundesliga, despite an offer coming from Leicester City.