The Sheffield United boss interviewed for the City manager’s job in the summer after Ruud van Nistelrooy’s departure and before Marti Cifuentes was handed the reins
Sheffield United boss Chris Wilder interviewed for the Leicester City job in the summer(Image: Harriet Massey/Getty Images)
Sheffield United boss Chris Wilder was “disappointed” not to get the Leicester City job in the summer and even spoke to three players in the hope of taking the reins at the King Power Stadium.
Wilder was interviewed by City when they sought a replacement for Ruud van Nistelrooy, the club eventually turning to Marti Cifuentes.
Out of work in the summer after leaving the Blades, Wilder has since returned to Bramall Lane to help them recover from a dreadful start to the campaign, and he will be in the away dugout at the King Power Stadium on Saturday afternoon.
He could have been in the home dugout if his plans had come off, with Wilder revealing that he spoke to Hamza Choudhury, Luke Thomas and Harry Souttar, all former Blades loanees, to get the lowdown on the club before his interview.
“It’s mad,” Wilder said at his press conference on Friday. “I spoke to Leicester City in the summer and was impressed with what they had to say.
“At the time I was out of work so disappointed not to get that gig but you move on and I enjoyed the process and the interview process. I was disappointed not to get the job because I’d like to think it would be one that would’ve worked well for myself and the coaches we’d have brought in.
“I know a lot about the club over a number of years, I know about the players, worked with Luke Thomas, Hamza, Harry Souttar and talking to them they had a very positive view on the club. What Enzo (Maresca) did as well, we share the same agent.
“It’s a big club and I wanted to get back in to work and I thought I could’ve done a decent job for them, but it’s worked out fabulously for me to be back at my club.”
Neither City nor the Blades are where they would hope to be in the table and Wilder hinted at a level of surprise that a squad as good as City’s would be in the bottom half.
“I always believe Leicester City’s academy is tops,” Wilder said. “They’ve brought through some outstanding players over the years and are continuing to do that. That was one of the attractions when I spoke to them, the bulging talent in the academy.
“They’ve always had some good players. The academy, they bring through tough boys and they sign some good players.
“I would say it’s one of the strongest groups of players that have been relegated from the Premier League and it just shows how difficult this division is for anybody.
“It’s a big challenge for us, they can produce performances if they want to and they fancy it. They turned over Stoke a couple weeks ago, drew at home to Coventry.
“The results have been okay but I suppose from the supporters’ point of view and above I should imagine, like a couple of clubs, us included, they would’ve been expecting to be higher up in the division.”
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