SHOCK England manager report! FA chiefs to speak with Ralf Rangnick in hunt for Sam Allardyce’s successor

The Football Association are ready to hold talks with Ralf Rangnick as they step up the search for the new England manager.

Reports indicate the German spoke with the FA following the departure of Roy Hodgson over the summer, and although they favoured an English boss then, Rangnick has become a key target for Three Lions' chiefs.

This is in the wake of Sam Allardyce's exit as manager after just one game, following the Telegraph investigation into him selling advice on circumventing FA rules.

Arsenal head coach Arsene Wenger is still considered one of the front runners for the job, whilst Gareth Southgate has been handed a four-game caretaker spell in which to impress, meaning Rangnick is only an outsider to be handed the reins.

However, England technical director Dan Ashworth is a big fan of the 58-year-old, having attempted to bring him to West Brom in 2012 after Hodgson had departed the Hawthorns for the Three Lions.

Highly regarded as a coach and respected for his understanding of the game, Rangnick has little top level management experience.

A former pupil at the University of Sussex, Rangnick's playing career was spent in the lower reaches of the game, including a spell with English non-league side Southwick, before he moved into coaching in the 1980s.

The highlight of his management career came whilst in charge of Bundesliga side Schalke, when he took them to the 2011 Champions League semi-finals, whilst he also led RB Leipzig to the Bundesliga last season before stepping upstairs to take the role of Sporting Director.