STOKE TARGET O’NEILL

Potters open O’neill talks and want a manager in situ for Utd

STOKE CITY sounded out Martin O’neill yesterday and will today intensify efforts to land him as their new manager.

While ex-watford boss Quique Sanchez

Flores (below) emerged as a contender, top target O’neill has been spoken to by club chiefs.

Flores has not met the Potters as his Espanyol face Levante in a Copa Del Rey clash tonight.

But Stoke chairman Peter Coates has made a beeline for free agent O’neill and talks about succeeding Mark Hughes will continue this afternoon.

Coates is determined to have Hughes’ successor in place for Monday night’s clash with Manchester United. He spent the last

72-hours drawing up a hit-list that no longer appears to include ex-west Ham boss Slaven Bilic.

Ireland boss O’neill was still the marginal favourite last night, although he drifted from 1/1 to 13/8.

But Stoke sussed him out yesterday evening and that will leave the FAI fearing an imminent managerial hunt of their own.

The FAI have not been contacted by Stoke regarding any approach for O’neill – but nor do they have to be.

While O’neill, 65, verbally agreed a two-year contract extension in October to stay on with Ireland for the Euro 2020 campaign, he has not signed it.

Ireland’s next game is not until March 23 in

Turkey, a trip that is preceded by a four-day training camp in the Turkish resort of Antalya.

That would be O’neill’s only game between now and the end of the Premier League season, and therein lies the potential for combining the Ireland and Stoke jobs.

It is unclear whether Stoke view O’neill as their long-term solution.

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