Leicester City legend Emile Heskey casts doubts over potential Steve Cooper successor

Emile Heskey believes Leicester City were right to dismiss Steve Cooper but says the club should approach two other managers before considering Ruud van Nistelrooy.

One of the names Heskey is keen on is former Brighton and Chelsea boss Graham Potter, who is currently favourite to land the job following Cooper’s exit on Sunday, just 24 hours after the Foxes lost 2-1 at home to Chelsea. Van Nistelrooy has also been touted for the vacancy, having left Manchester United earlier this month.

The Dutchman presided over four games as interim boss at United - three wins and a draw - before the arrival of new head coach Ruben Amorim. Two of those victories came against Leicester; once in the League Cup and again in Premier League.

READ MORE: Leicester City next manager LIVE - odds and Graham Potter latest as Steve Cooper sacked

READ MORE: Leicester City new manager timetable as appointment stance explained

Van Nistelrooy had been brought in as an assistant coach by former United manager Erik ten Hag this summer.

Amorim decided against keeping him on upon his arrival and Van Nistelrooy has consequently been linked with a number of managerial jobs, having previously been given his senior managerial break at PSV Eindhoven.

During his time there, he won the Dutch equivalent of the Community Shield and the KNVB Cup inside 50 games. He left PSV in May 2023 with the club second in the Eredivisie after feeling like he wasn’t being backed by the board.

In total, he has managed just 54 senior matches as a head coach. Heskey said he would worry about how Van Nistelrooy would cope at Leicester.

He instead suggested that Potter would be a better selection, while also throwing former Everton and West Ham manager David Moyes' name into consideration as well.

“Who would I have? It all depends whether you’re looking for survival or looking for some sort of structure and progression within the club,” Heskey told LeicestershireLive.

“I would look at Graham Potter, I like the way that he he works. I love the way that his teams play and I love the way the structure of a club looks when he's there.

“Or if you're looking to be a solid team, I’d probably go for David Moyes. Van Nistelrooy is a bit of an unknown.

“Because yeah, he's done fantastic but it's a different to do fantastic in a top team in Holland and arguably one of the biggest clubs in the world with Man United - they still have outstanding international players.

“And then to come into Leicester where the mood is quite low… yeah, it's a very difficult one.”

Heskey - who played 153 games for Leicester, winning two League Cups before his exit to Liverpool in 2000 - says Cooper was always in a difficult position at Leicester given his ties to former club Nottingham Forest. He related it to one instance in his own career.

“I think I agree with it [Cooper’s sacking],” he added. “The reality is it was a difficult appointment in the first place when you come in from Forest.

“I was at Aston Villa when Alex McLeish came from Birmingham - you’ve really got to hit the ground running. And it was difficult circumstances [Cooper] was coming into, with this Leicester side with a totally different philosophy to the previous manager.

“It was going to be a tall order and he found it difficult. Usually against Chelsea 2-1 is not a bad result.

“But I think everything that accumulated, then make a decision needed to be made. It is probably the right decision because it gives the next manager a real good chance to stay up. They’re just above the relegation zone right now so it’s not looking too bad.”

Emile Heskey was speaking to the LeicestershireLive courtesy of William Hill.