Besiktas set to snap up former West Brom manager to deal

It looks like Valerien Ismael won’t be out of a job for too long, with TRT Spor reporting that Besiktas are set to appoint him as their new manager.

The former Baggies boss was brought in to the Hawthorns at the beginning of the season with the intention of getting his new team promoted back up to the Premier League.

However, after an okay start, the side’s form began to dip. The goals dried up and so did the results and it meant that West Brom began to slide down the division and out of the promotion hunt.

With the team struggling to pick up victories and claw their way into the top six, the Baggies board decided it was time for a change and replaced Ismael with Steve Bruce.

Ismael has since been out of work but he hasn’t been on the sidelines for too long and already may be back in work with Besiktas. This report from TRT Spor is claiming that a deal is set to be penned by the boss to take over at the club and it should last for two years.

He’s certainly proven he can be a successful manager in the past and if he does take the reins at Besiktas, then they’ll be hoping he can do just as well with them. At Barnsley, he transformed a team from relegation battlers to play-off hunters and they were arguably the biggest surprise from last year and looked like they could even sneak into the Premier League.

He’s also worked in Germany with Wolfsburg and also at LASK, where he had similar success. At West Brom, it wasn’t meant to be but the Baggies will now look to see whether he now does well at Besiktas or whether it goes down a similar path as his time at the Hawthorns.

The Verdict

Valerien Ismael does not seem to be a bad manager and whilst he did only manage one successful campaign in the Championship with Barnsley, it is