Graham Potter, Lee Carsley, two surprises - Leicester City sent final next manager verdict

Leicester City have acted quickly and sacked Steve Cooper after just 157 days in charge. In that period, he managed just four wins in 14 games.

Chairman Aiyawatt ‘Top’ Srivaddhanaprabha was in attendance to witness the Foxes' 2-1 defeat to Chelsea, managed by Enzo Maresca. The decision to sack Cooper has left fans shell-shocked due to the timing, not the actual conclusion.

Leicester are in action on Saturday afternoon at Brentford and reports have stated the club are hopeful of getting Cooper's replacement before the trip to the capital.

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Graham Potter, Ruud van Nistelrooy and David Moyes are all names already being mentioned in the running. There have also been mentions of Carlos Corberan, who City wanted in the summer.

So, with that in mind, LeicestershireLive writers and others give their verdict on who they think Leicester should turn to now and replace Cooper with...

Josh Holland

In my mind, there is only one man for the job and his name is Graham Potter. As it has been well-documented, Leicester have headhunted the Englishman twice already - once when Brendan Rodgers was sacked and last summer to replace Enzo Maresca.

Now, there are fewer hurdles to get the deal done. He won't get the England job now Thomas Tuchel has got that gig, there isn't an alarming points deduction looming like there was in July and Potter has come out publicly saying he's ready to return to management.

The only problem may be Potter's worry about the state of the club. Make no mistake, whoever comes in will be tasked at keeping the club in the Premier League with two of their better players out injured. However, whoever does come in, should they succeed, they'll have a brilliant building block in place.

Potter would be the ideal candidate to take Leicester forward. He needs to revive his career after failing at Chelsea and if he can transform the Foxes into something similar he managed at Brighton, he will become a popular man in Leicestershire.

James Quinlan

There are reasons to be torn here. On the one hand I think Leicester City need to be pragmatic as they know they are far from the best team in the Premier League so need to be defensive, though I am a staunch believer that a team needs to have its own style and play to win games over anything else.

That is why my pick for the job would be VfB Stuttgart’s Sebastian Hoeneß. In his first full season he took his current team to an unexpected second place finish in the Bundesliga ahead of Harry Kane’s Bayern Munich, playing an interesting brand of football whereby opponents are confused by unpredictable, fast possession-based passing.

He does this in a 4-4-2 system not to dissimilar to the way Steve Cooper was lining the team up, so has the personnel to make it work with little time afforded. The only flaw in this plan is that Stuttgart seem infatuated by him and vice versa, as before the end of last season Hoeneß extended his contract to 2027.

Kieran Horn

There are a number of names that Leicester will certainly be looking at following the dismissal of Steve Cooper. Ruud van Nistelrooy is very likely to be in contention but the Foxes must decide exactly how they want to approach this huge decision with it worth keeping in mind they could be back in the Championship next season.

A glamorous appointment may not be what Leicester need but the squad is talented enough to cause teams problems, regardless of who is in charge. Sharpening up defensively however, is most definitely required and their could be the perfect man to do exactly that.

Tottenham's assistant Ryan Mason has been part of a Premier League coaching set up for the last few years and is highly regarded by both Ange Postecoglou and Antonio Conte, two very different managers. He has been scouted out by Belgian club Anderlecht but he turned down that role after talks.

Relocating was likely a major stumbling block to that, but an offer to remain in England with a Premier League club could be too difficult to turn down and it would likely be an astute addition.

Gary Lineker

"I have got not insight into who might come in and take his place now, but I'd be almost astonished if they haven't got someone in mind," Lineker told The Rest Is Football podcast. "To do that on a whim and then think 'right, who are we going to get?' The first rumour I heard was David Moyes, which I think would be a safe pair of hands. He's been around the block and I think that would probably be a safe appointment.

"If you look elsewhere, I think you have someone like [Graham] Potter, possibly. He's been doing the media rounds, which suggests he wants to get back into the game as soon as he possibly can. I would go with Lee Carsley. I think he has something. There is a little bit of a reluctance in the Premier League, with possible exceptions - Brentford and Brighton - to bring in young managers who they think have something about them.

"The coaching ability is there and then you take a bit of a punt. It's difficult for a club which is going to be fighting relegation. It would be a tough first managerial job for someone like Carsley, but the way England players responded to him you could tell they respected him as a coach and they thought he had good ideas. I thought he was really imaginative and brave."