Trapattoni denies Ireland interest

Former Italy manager Giovanni Trapattoni has rubbished reports he is on the verge of taking the vacant Republic of Ireland job.

After the latest betting frenzy on the race to succeed Steve Staunton yesterday, Trapattoni emerged briefly as the favourite, prompting one broadcaster to claim that a deal between the 68-year-old and the Football Association of Ireland (FAI) was close.

The Italian, who is currently in charge of Austrian champions Red Bull Salzburg, said today that he was looking forward to seeing who he will be linked with next.

"I admire the imagination of certain people. Two weeks ago, I was being linked with Africa, last week it was in England and now we are talking to Ireland," he said today. "I'm curious to see where I will be next week."

Head of the three-man recruitment panel Don Givens confirmed as much to today's Irish Times, saying: "I've heard he's the new favourite, but how many are we going to have?

"When I see that story, I find it absolutely amazing because we haven't spoken to Trapattoni and I find it rather hard to believe that the FAI are going behind our backs."

The former Juventus coach would have been a very high profile acquisition for the FAI and would definitely have put 'bums on seats', but for now Irish fans will have to be content with the usual suspects being linked.

Former England and Barcelona manager Terry Venables remains favourite and it is thought, in some quarters at least, that he will be confirmed as the new boss this weekend.

However, former Derby County boss Billy Davies is yet to interviewed by Givens, Don Howe and Ray Houghton, though he remains a rank outsider.

Kenny Dalglish has also been linked with the job, while news that Dutchman Co Adriaanse has left Qatar club Al-Sadd is likely cause a bit of a flurry in the market for today.