Last week the football world was shocked by the appointment of Gary Neville as manager of Valencia, and now it seems that another member of Manchester United's Class of 92 could be set to cut his teeth in the world of club management.
Mark Ogden of The Independent has revealed that Swansea City chariman Huw Jenkins wants to speak to Ryan Giggs before making a decision on a new manager, as if Giggs is willing to leave Old Trafford, he would emerge as a leading candidate:
Giggs, currently acting as Louis van Gaal’s assistant manager at Manchester United, has made no secret of his desire to pursue a career in management. The 42-year-old is widely regarded as one of the leading candidates to succeed Van Gaal at Old Trafford when the Dutchman’s contract expires at the end of the 2016-17 campaign.
But Swansea are determined to investigate every possible option, and the Welsh club are understood to be ready to speak to Giggs about replacing Monk in the event that the former Wales international is prepared to consider leaving United to begin his managerial career.
Interesting.
Ryan Giggs' only managerial experience so far has been his short stint as interim player-manager following the sacking of David Moyes, so there's not much to go by in terms of determining whether or not he is ready, but there are other factors at play here:
Would he suit Swansea?
Absolutely yes. While he was born in Cardiff, Giggs is a legend of Welsh football and crucially never played for Cardiff, which presumably would have been an immediate deal breaker for the Swansea fans.
In terms of what the chairman wants, then again Giggs fits the bill, as Huw Jenkins has made it perfectly clear that he wants a young manager with bright ideas to take charge.
Would Swansea suit him?
It would certainly be a big risk.
While Giggs would surely be tempted by the chance to get Premier League managerial experience under his belt, he only needs to talk to his former United teammate Ole Gunnar Solskjaer about joining a struggling Welsh side in a relegation battle, and what it can do to your reputation.
Granted, Swansea are a far healthier club than Cardiff were when Solskjaer took charge, but Giggs would need to immediately keep the club's Premier League status alive, and failure to do so would be a very bad look for someone who is being talked about as a future Manchester United boss.
However, lets say Van Gaal is not staying on past the end of this season, and United do manage to secure Guardiola or Ancelotti, will they want to keep Giggs on as assistant? Or would they bring their own backroom staff in? It's a seriously complicated situation.
What would it mean for Manchester United?
There is a high chance that Giggs will simply decline the offer to talk about the Swansea job because he wants to stay at United.
Some believe that Giggs is being groomed to take over at Old Trafford, so were Giggs to be allowed to talk to Jenkins, then it shows that he is open to managing elsewhere, which in turn would see the rumours of Guardiola and Ancelotti taking over from Van Gaal become much more feasible.
If Giggs flat out refuses to talk with Swansea, would that mean he has been promised something at Old Trafford? Should Louis Van Gaal manage to stay on past the summer, which many believe he will not, will Guardiola and Ancelotti still be available when the Dutchman's contract expires? Unless Guardiola takes another year out, then you would have to imagine they would not be waiting around, in which case Giggs would become a leading candidate having worked as second in command for three seasons.
So is he ready for Premier League management?
It's impossible to say.
What Giggs does have is access to Alex Ferguson and his long list of pupils who followed him into management, should he require advice, but many thought Garry Monk wasn't ready, and he exceeded all expectations up until late September of this year. It's clear that more and more chairmen want to see young managers in charge of their clubs, and Swansea have taken risks like this before, so you would have to say that if Giggs does talk to Swansea, and does convince Huw Jenkins that he is ready for the job, then he is ready.
Watch this space, the Swansea managerial job hunt just got a lot more interesting.
