Monday 18 January 2016 16:25, UK
Swansea City have told Sky Sports News HQ that they are close to appointing former Udinese boss Francesco Guidolin as head coach alongside Alan Curtis.
The 60-year-old Italian will work with Curtis, who was made caretaker manager after Garry Monk was sacked in December, until the end of the season.
Welshman Curtis will continue to undertake the club's media commitments and the Swans intend to reassess their manager situation in the summer.
It is hoped Guidolin, who has managed 11 different Italian teams as well as Monaco, will be in the stands for tomorrow night's Premier League clash with Watford, live on Monday Night Football on Sky Sports 1HD.
Guidolin was heralded in Italy for guiding Udinese to two consistent finishes in Serie A's Champions League places, including third-place in 2012, which equalled the club's best ever league finish.
Prior to joining Udinese in 2010 he promoted Parma back to the Italian top flight from Serie B, after two years with Palermo.
He began his professional managerial career with Treviso before spells with Fano, Empoli, Ravenna, Atalanta and Vicenza.
His first spell with Udinese came in the 1998-99 season before joining Bologna and then Palermo for a first time.
Guidolin then took charge of Genoa before the 2005-06 season with Monaco. He re-joined Palermo the following year.
Former Sunderland Director of Football Roberto De Fanti knows Guidolin well from his time working in Italian football.
And De Fanti told Sky Sports News HQ: "He is a very successful manager in Italy. He never managed a top-flight club, always a mid-level club like Palermo, Vicenza, Udinese.
"He was extremely successful. Consider that he was the author of the miracle of Vicenza, which is a very small city, a very small club in Italy.
"He brought them to winning the Italian Cup, to the semi-final in Europe, where they lost to Chelsea [Cup Winners' Cup, 1998].
"[At Udinese] a fourth place, a third place. We are talking about regular Champions League football.
"I am very happy to see him here."
