Ivan Juric has agreed to an 18-month contract to become Southampton’s new head coach.
The deal includes a break option, which will be reviewed this summer. If Southampton avoids relegation this season, Jurić’s contract could be extended for another two years.
Juric is set to take over at Southampton after being sacked Roma last month, where he worked for less than two months.
Southampton have long been supporters of the Croatian, and the 49-year-old was previously on the Saints’ shortlist to replace Ralph Hasenhuttl when the Austrian was sacked two years ago.
Saints also interviewed West Brom manager Carlos Corberan and former Denmark coach Kasper Hjulmand, while Sheffield Wednesday’s Danny Rohl has also been linked with the job.
Who is Ivan Jurić?
Juric spent just two months at Roma and was released in November
The Croatian manager began his coaching career under Gian Piero Gasperini, who is now Atalanta’s revolutionary head coach.
Juric worked on Gasperini’s coaching staff at Inter Milan and Palermo before taking up his first job with Serie C side Mantua in the 2014-15 season.
The following season he took up a job with Crotone in Serie B and secured their promotion to Serie A for the first time in the club’s history that season. However, he did not take them to the Italian top flight because he was offered to replace Gasperini at Genoa, which he accepted.
Juric then spent three years at Genoa in two years – between February 2017 and December 2018, he was dismissed from the club three times.
He finally found stability at Hellas Verona in 2019, who had just been promoted to Serie A. Thanks to one of the smallest budgets in the league, he kept the team in the top flight for two seasons in a row – before taking the job in Turin.
The Croatian left Turin at the end of last season after three seasons in Serie A and started at Roma in September this year after The Friedkin Group sacked fan favorite Daniele de Rossi. Jurić, however, did not last even two months, as he was dismissed from Giallorossi four points above the relegation zone.
Oleksandr Usyk and Tyson Fury’s massive heavyweight rematch will be broadcast live on Saturday, December 21 on Sky Sports Box Office. Book Usyk v Fury 2 now!
