Former player-manager Jan Molby backs fellow Dane Michael Laudrup to be a success at Swansea City.
As Vital Swansea has reported earlier this week, The Swans are expected to reveal Michael Laudrup as their new manager as early as Friday, which would coincide with Laudrup’s 48th birthday.
Molby, who went very close to winning the League Two play-off final 15 years ago with the Swans, believes Laudrup is a good fit for his former club due to the style of play they believe in and their ways of working.
He also said that having talked with a number of Danish journalists in Ukraine, they all believe he’ll be manager at the Liberty Stadium.
Molby said:
‘Over the last couple of days the rumours have grown stronger and stronger,’
‘I’m at a hotel in the Ukraine with an awful lot of Danish journalists [covering Euro 2012] and they all seem pretty sure that Denmark is about to have their first manager in the Premier League.’
He believes Laudrup will do well in South Wales:
‘I think he’ll do well… I know Michael was very impressed with the way things are done [in the Premier League], they way in which he is in control of footballing matters, selling of players, buying of players,’
‘I know that’s some of the problems he’s had at previous clubs and of course he has a very specific way he wants to play.
‘He was strongly influenced by Johan Cruyff when he was at Barcelona in the late 1980s, early 90s.
‘That’s how he wants to play his football that’s how Swansea played last year under Brendan Rodgers, so if it happens I think it’s a marriage made in heaven.
‘They’ve gone down that route, they’ve put a squad together capable of playing exactly like they want to play.
‘They’re brave and it’s worked well for them, they’ve proved they can do it in the Premier League.
‘That’s very important for Michael, he won’t have to start from scratch with a group of players that maybe aren’t comfortable having the ball, being in possession.
‘This group of Swansea players are. He will maybe add one or two players he might know from Europe but of course there won’t be great changes, because they don’t need to.
Molby also compared Laudrup to former Swansea manager Brendan Rodgers as they both favour an attractive style of passing football.
‘I think he’ll do well… I know Michael was very impressed with the way things are done [in the Premier League], they way in which he is in control of footballing matters, selling of players, buying of players,’
‘I know that’s some of the problems he’s had at previous clubs and of course he has a very specific way he wants to play.
‘He was strongly influenced by Johan Cruyff when he was at Barcelona in the late 1980s, early 90s.
‘That’s how he wants to play his football that’s how Swansea played last year under Brendan Rodgers, so if it happens I think it’s a marriage made in heaven.
‘They’ve gone down that route, they’ve put a squad together capable of playing exactly like they want to play.
‘They’re brave and it’s worked well for them, they’ve proved they can do it in the Premier League.
‘That’s very important for Michael, he won’t have to start from scratch with a group of players that maybe aren’t comfortable having the ball, being in possession.
‘This group of Swansea players are. He will maybe add one or two players he might know from Europe but of course there won’t be great changes, because they don’t need to.
Talking about his previous management jobs, he added:
‘If you look at his CV, he did very well with Brondby with a young group of players, got them playing the right way,’
‘Then you look at his next three jobs: Getafe I thought he did well but fell out with the owner, had a great run in the Europa League, almost knocked out the mighty Bayern Munich.
‘Moscow, I think he just landed in a country where it was impossible with language difficulties, they just didn’t allow him to do what he wants to.
‘And from the moment he set foot in Mallorca they were just beset with financial problems that he never quite got over.
‘This is the opportunity now, he has to make a mark as a manager.’
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