Steve Cooper close to being appointed new Leicester City head coach

The Welshman has been out of work since being sacked by Nottingham Forest last December, who he was in charge of for just over two years. The club were in 17th place in the table after a run of just one win in 13 matches when he left.

Leicester won promotion back to the Premier League at the first time of asking having won last season’s Championship, but are looking for a new head coach after previous boss Enzo Maresca recently joined Chelsea.

Cooper has previously been in charge of the England U16 and U17 international sides, winning the World Cup with the latter in 2017, before managing Championship side Swansea City from 2019-2021.

Leicester City legend Emile Heskey says the aim for the next manager is simply to try and stay in the Premier League amid a limited capacity to sign new players.

Speaking at the launch of Husqvarna’s Victory Dance campaign, he insisted the best way to achieve that would be to continue the style of football implemented by Maresca.

Heskey told Sky Sports: “Leicester have gone down the route of having someone in Maresca, who revolutionised the way that we think as a club in the sense of the way that we play.

“It would be crazy to change everything around. Even when you look at U21s, they have started to implement a lot of the fundamentals that Maresca had.