West Ham winger Julien Faubert claims Giovanni Trapattoni has emerged as a possible candidate to fill the club's director of football vacancy.The French winger put the Italian coach's name firmly in the frame after being questioned on a French radio programme.
Trapattoni has also been linked with the Republic of Ireland vacancy, with Billy Davies and Terry Venables also thought to be in the running.
Trapattoni, who is 68, is currently the coach at Austrian club Red Bull Salzburg, but for a man who has been coaching teams since 1974, he may well jump at the chance to act as a director of football.
Faubert revealed a French-speaking Italian West Ham employee, who helps the midfielder with translation, told the £6million summer signing that the 68-year-old's arrival is a possibility.
Faubert said: "Trapattoni would be a huge boost for our tactics because we have gaps in that area of the game, on the defending and position aspects."
Hammers manager Alan Curbishley may not be too pleased to hear that last remark, but the possibility of bringing someone with Trapattoni's experience to the club, is not one to dismiss lightly.
The Italian is Italy's most successful club coach ever, having won seven league titles with Juventus and Internazionale, though his last Scudetto was in 1989. He was the Juventus coach in 1985 when they beat Liverpool to win the European Cup in the Heysel Stadium and in 1997 he became the first Italian coach to win a league title abroad with Bayern Munich.
In fact 'Il Trap' is one of only two managers to win the domestic league in four different countries after also guiding Benfica and Red Bull to their respective titles. However his spell in charge of the Italian national team was a disappointing one. The Azzurri bowed out of the 2002 World Cup with an extra-time defeat to South Korea in the last 16 and they failed to advance beyond the group stage at Euro 2004.
The only other man that has been linked with the job has been Dutch coach Stan Valckx, who is currently the director of football at PSV Eindhoven.
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