Leicester City could sack Marti Cifuentes: Ex-Southampton boss and English manager must be top of the list | OneFootball

Leicester City should target Ralph Hasenhuttl and Will Still as potential replacements for Marti Cifuentes

Marti Cifuentes' role as Leicester City boss has been under almost constant pressure since the minute he arrived at the King Power Stadium.

It has been a difficult season for Leicester City upon their return to the Championship.

The former Premier League champions, less than a decade ago, find themselves lingering around the middle of the table at this point, with their chances of finding a way back into the top flight looking increasingly slimmer by each passing game week.

The Foxes are to face a point deduction at some stage this season, facing alleged breaches of profit and sustainability rules, which drastically affected their summer window, unable to sign a player for a fee, relying on loans and free transfers.

Nevertheless, the consensus stands that Cifuentes hasn't managed to get the best out of talented players such as Stephy Mavididi, Abdul Fatawu, Ricardo Pereira, and Harry Winks this season, and could well lose his job sooner rather than later if form doesn't improve.

With that being said, Football League World have identified two potential replacements for the Spaniard in the Leicester dugout should he face the sack.

Ralph Hasenhuttl

Ralph Hasenhuttl will be a name familiar to numerous fans of English football, with the Austrian spending nearly four years in charge of Southampton in the Premier League.

Hasenhuttl replaced former QPR and Stoke City boss Mark Hughes in the Saints' dugout in December 2018, guiding them to a 16th-place finish in the top flight in his first six months in charge.

The Austrian boss would become renowned for his intent on playing a high-pressing style of football, which would ultimately be his downfall.

His Saints side would be on the receiving end of two 9-0 defeats during his tenure, one to Manchester United, and the other, ironically, to Leicester. Hasenhuttl would be sacked in November 2022, with his time on the South Coast largely remembered for those two humiliating defeats.

Since then, the Austrian spent 14 months in charge of German Bundesliga side VFL Wolfsburg between March 2024 and May 2025, and has been out of work since.

Whether he would consider a drop to the English second tier, especially with Leicester's current financial restrictions remains to be seen, but he could be an excellent pickup for the Foxes should they manage to convince him to make the move.

Will Still

From one former Southampton boss to another, Will Still has been without a club since his dismissal from the Saints in early November 2025.

The 33-year-old had developed a reputation as one of the most promising upcoming coaches in world football, courtesy of his exploits with the likes of Beerschot in Belgium, and then both Stade Reims and Lens in France.

With Reims, it became well-known that the French club had to pay a fine of £22,000 each time that Still took charge of a game for the club, as he did not possess a UEFA Pro Licence at the time.

He would join Southampton following their relegation from the top flight and was seen as the person who could guide them back to the top flight at the first time of asking, but that would not be the case.

Still won just four of his 16 games in charge at St Mary's, and was promptly sacked with the club hovering just above the relegation zone.

At Championship level, Still may feel as though he has a point to prove, and having worked under difficult circumstances in his time in Belgium and France, he could be the perfect fit for the Leicester job.