Lucien Favre’s proposed move to Crystal Palace has fallen through after the Swiss coach contacted the south London club on Thursday afternoon and informed them that, despite initially indicating his enthusiasm to join, he does not yet feel ready for a return to top-level management.
The 63-year-old, who has been out of work since leaving Borussia Dortmund last December, had held positive talks over the last two weeks with Palace and agreed a three-year contract to take over at the Premier League club. That deal was due to be signed on Thursday morning.
However, Favre, while apparently having been hugely impressed by the project being proposed at Selhurst Park and the resources that would have been made available to him, is understood to have had second thoughts overnight and duly informed Palace that he would not be signing after all.
It is understood that Favre does not have any offers on the table from rival clubs and does not expect to return to work in the near future.
The news came as a crippling blow to Palace, who had felt on the verge of achieving something of a coup by securing the highly-rated former Borussia Monchengladbach and Nice coach’s services. Discussions between Favre, his representative and Palace had been positive since his agent first alerted the club to his potential interest in the vacancy at Selhurst Park earlier this month.
The chairman, Steve Parish, met with the Swiss face-to-face in France and there have been several extensive Zoom meetings with the recruitment department over potential signings this summer.
Negotiations over the minutiae of the contract dragged through the weekend but Favre’s wage demands would have been met and he was apparently satisfied by the deal put forward. Indeed, the contract was accepted in principle on Wednesday night, only for matters to fail to proceed as anticipated the following morning. Palace fielded a call around lunchtime from the coach’s agent, who informed them of his client’s about-turn.
Confirmation that he would not be taking up the reins came as a huge surprise and disappointment to the club who, by that stage, were already some way down the line in terms of organising the Swiss’s visa in the hope he might be able to welcome the players back for preseason training on July 5.
Favre subsequently made clear in talks with the Palace hierarchy that he had been quite affected by the way in which his time at Dortmund had drawn to a close, and the politics which had accompanied his departure. Despite initially having warmed to the idea of working in the Premier League, he explained that, upon further consideration, the prospect of taking on a role in a new country was too daunting at present — instead, that he needed more time off before taking on his next role.
His decision has left Palace at a quandary. The club have spoken with numerous candidates since Roy Hodgson made clear his intention was to leave at the end of his contract, and seem likely now to fall back on the candidates who impressed them from that initial process rather than starting entirely afresh with pre-season a little over a week away.
Valerien Ismael has since joined West Bromwich Albion from Barnsley and would no longer be under consideration, though the candidature of the likes of Eddie Howe, Frank Lampard and Sean Dyche may now be reassessed.
There is no chance of them reviving their interest in the former Wolverhampton Wanderers manager, Nuno Espirito Santo. Whoever takes over will inherit a squad in need of a major overhaul, with several first-team players out of contract at the end of the month.