Early reports have been saying for a while now that Guus Hiddink, the man behind Chelsea’s 2009 FA cup win, is close to securing a deal with Ivory Coast, to become their 2010 World Cup manager.
Hiddink is currently the manager of Russia, and his contract for their national team ends on at the end of June. He will be taking over Turkey at the very beginning of August.
But Chelsea’s star man, and also Ivory Coast’s key player, Didier Drogba has apparently been begging for Guus to come and manage his national team, for this year’s world cup.
Drogba, who built a strong relationship with Hiddink during their time together at Chelsea, has actually come to ask Hiddink himself.
Hiddink later confirmed this, saying:
“It’s true. I have the chance to take charge of Ivory Coast. Didier Drogba has asked me on behalf of the players. The board of the federation want it too.’’
Even after this personal request by Drogba, Hiddink later remarked that he still was unable to decide as ‘a lot has happened in the past few weeks’.
If Hiddink is to coach the Ivory Coast, he is going to have to terminate his contract with the Russian’s early, which obviously isn’t going down all that well with the Russian Football Federation.
Hiddink has also received requests from other teams like Nigeria and North Korea to manage their teams, but Hiddink has said that he is a lot more likely to go to Ivory Coast than any other team, if he were to move. They don’t call him the world’s best manager ever for no reason, you know.
However, in my opinion, I believe that Guus Hiddink, as long as the Russuan Football Federation are not in disagreement, will go for a short stint for the Ivory Coast before his management time for Turkey begins, as not only does he have a personal relationship with Drogba, it also seems like a very typical Hiddink thing to do, as he is known to bounce between teams rapidly.
Despite this, all one can possibly have at the moment is speculation, and whether or not he will actually move is merely wishful thinking.
By Anthony Duong
