FC Pune City have reportedly shortlisted Scottish club Hearts’ assistant boss Austin MacPhee for the vacant head coach role after Brazil’s Marcos Paqueta terminated his contract with the Indian Super League (ISL) last month.
According to a report by the Daily Record, MacPhee is among the two coaches shortlisted by the Pune club with former Rangers manager Paul Le Guen also in the running.
The 38-year-old MacPhee joined the Scottish Premiership club in 2016 as assistant to Ian Cathro but stayed on after Craig Levien took over as the head coach last season. He is also an assistant coach in Martin O’Neill’s setup with the Ireland national team.
The report goes on to add that the Pune franchise was impressed by MacPhee during the Scot’s recent trip to India as a FIFA representative.
MacPhee’s Hearts had finished sixth in the 12-team Scottish Premier League in 2017-18 with 49 points.
Le Guen, meanwhile, went on to make 17 appearances for France during his playing career and has managed the likes of Lyon, Paris Saint-Germain and Cameroon amongst others in his coaching career so far.
Pune City had initially agreed to a deal with Paqueta for the upcoming ISL season but the Brazilian sought to terminate his contract after getting an offer to become the manager of Botafogo back home. The club had brought in Paqueta after Serbian coach Ranko Popovic stepped down from the role having led the side to the playoffs in the last ISL season.
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