Chelsea old boy Petrescu latest favourite for job nobody wants

One-time Chelsea defender Dan Petrescu could be heading to south London to take up the vacant Crystal Palace manager’s job and the odds suggest he’s a real candidate for the job.

Petrescu is the new 6/4 favourite to be named the new boss of the Premier League basement-dwellers, who have struggled to find a replacement for former gaffer Ian Holloway.

Chairman Steve Parish reportedly flew to Russia in an attempt to persuade the Romanian to swap Dynamo Moscow’s Arena Khimki for Selhurst Park.

The Eagles failed to lure Jose Mourinho’s former Real Madrid assistant Aitor Karanka to Croydon, with the Spaniard answering Middlesbrough chairman Steve Gibson’s call to take over at the Riverside Stadium.

To add insult to injury, former Manchester United head coach Rene Meulensteen – who was favourite for the Palace job at one point – accepted an offer from Fulham to assist beleaguered boss  Martin Jol at Craven Cottage.

Coral’s ‘next Crystal Palace manager’ market suggests Parish is quickly running out of options.

MK Dons manager Karl Robinson – who has never managed a team in a higher division than League One – is next in the betting at 4/1, with former Eagles favourite and current Wales chief Chris Coleman third-favourite at 6/1.  

Dynamo are the seventh club 45-year-old Petrescu has been in charge of over the last decade and he has had some success with small Romanian outfit Unirea Urziceni, winning the Liga 1 title for the first time in the club’s history in 2009.

The former Blues man – who also had spells in England with Sheffield Wednesday, Bradford and Southampton – went on to lead Russian side Kuban Krasnodar to promotion to the country’s top-flight a year later.

Palace gave themselves until after the international break to appoint a manager after Holloway’s resignation.

With caretaker boss Keith Millen in charge, the Eagles have taken a point from three games since the Bristolian’s departure.

Time is swiftly running out, but Parish may finally get his man as Petrescu is thought to be keen on the move, even if he is only brought in on a short-term contract.