BO SVENSSON has become the latest candidate to be linked with Sunderland’s vacant head coach position, with the chances of luring Danny Rohl to the Stadium of Light having receded significantly in the last few days.

Svensson, a 44-year-old former Denmark international, is understood to be one of the bosses still under consideration as Kristjaan Speakman and Kyril Louis-Dreyfus ponder who should succeed Mike Dodds next season.

Having started his coaching career in the Austrian second tier with FC Liefering, a feeder club for Red Bull Salzburg, Svensson was appointed as the head coach of Bundesliga side Mainz in January 2021.

He inherited a side struggling in the relegation zone, but led Mainz to safety in the second half of the season before presiding over successive top-half finishes in his two full seasons in charge.

He stepped down by mutual consent last November, with Mainz having made a poor start to the season, and has remained out of work since. The German media have previously reported that he would be willing to move to England and work in the Championship, and there is understood to have been contact between the Dane and senior Sunderland officials.

At this stage, however, Speakman and Louis-Dreyfus are continuing to consider their options with former Reims boss Will Still and Bayern Munich Under-19s coach Rene Maric also on their shortlist.

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Rohl shot to prominence when he guided Sheffield Wednesday to safety in the second half of this season, and the Sunderland hierarchy are known to have been impressed by the 35-year-old’s work at Hillsborough.

It initially looked as though Rohl might leave the Owls this summer, as he had questioned whether the club’s ambition matched his own. However, Wednesday are desperate to keep hold of their German head coach, and constructive discussions last week have made it much more likely that Rohl will remain in his current post next season.

Rohl held talks with Wednesday chairman Dejphon Chansiri last week before heading off on an end-of-season holiday.

To further complicate matters from a Sunderland perspective, it has emerged that Rohl’s current contract means it would cost around £5m in compensation to prise the Owls boss from Hillsborough. The figure is said to be double if Rohl's close-knit coaching team was to leave with him.