Oscar Garcia’s admission to Jon Rudkin could give him an edge in Leicester City’s search for a new manager

Oscar Garcia could have a head start on the other contenders for the Leicester City job after speaking regularly with the club’s director of football Jon Rudkin in recent months.

Garcia, currently in charge of City’s sister club OH Leuven, is among the names being linked with the soon-to-be-vacant hot seat at the King Power Stadium. City are set to step up their search for a new manager once Enzo Maresca is announced as Chelsea boss, with confirmation expected on Friday.

On Thursday evening, L’Equipe reported that Garcia was being tipped to be Maresca’s successor after impressing the City hierarchy during his spell with Leuven. Taking over in November with the Belgian relegation zone club, Garcia guided Leuven to safety and then started after the division was split into three sections, with the King Power-owned club in the middle group.

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In total, Garcia won eight, drew eight and lost 11 league games in charge of Leuven as they finished 10th in the table, equaling the club’s best ever finish. City owner Aiyawatt ‘Top’ Srivaddhabaprabha and Director of Football Rudkin were both in the stands for the last game of the season last weekend.

But that was far from the first meeting between Garcia and Rudkin. The Spaniard said last month that he spoke to him regularly and told him of his desire to one day return to management in England after spells with Brighton and Watford.

Garcia told L’Equipe: “I’m happy because I can do what I love the most: coaching. Even more so with a strong company in this project, King Power. They wanted to bring more professionalism to the club, change the way it operates and above all keep the team in the first division. I succeeded.

“The appeal of King Power was important. They own Leicester City. I speak to the sporting director every week. He knows that my dream is to return to England one day.”

Garcia’s one full season in England was with Brighton 10 years ago when he guided them to the Championship play-offs. He resigned shortly after being appointed Watford manager due to health issues.

Belgium and England are just two of the seven countries where Garcia has coached, along with Israel, Austria, France, Greece and his native Spain. His best spell came at Red Bull Salzburg where he won the league and cup double in back-to-back seasons.

Garcia is one of the few managers who are odds of 10/1 or less to take over from Maresca at City. Carlos Corberan is another and City are understood to be considering the West Brom boss, while there is long-standing interest in Graham Potter. Steve Cooper, Ruud van Nistelrooy and David Moyes are also among those mentioned as candidates.

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