The previous five options would all have the potential to take on the challenge of managing Southampton and building on Pochettino's legacy, but one man combines the best features of all of them: Oscar Garcia. Like Petrescu and Yakin his reputation was built on success in a lesser UEFA league (winning Maccabi Tel Aviv their first Israeli title in ten years), like Howe he has enjoyed recent success at the helm of a Football League club on the south coast of England (Brighton), like Rosler he has guided that club to within inches of the Premier League by making it to the Championship play-offs, like Laudrup he is a protege of Johann Cruyff and the Barcelona style, and like Yakin he is available and out of contract. He even provides a sense of continuity with Pochettino as they both played for Espanyol at the same time in 2004. A talented youngster produced by Cruyff's La Masia youth academy, Oscar never quite lived up to his promise as a player, eventually leaving Barca when he failed to hold down a first team place. Nevertheless, Cruyff remembered him when he took on the job managing the Catalonia national team for a series of exhibition matches, appointing Oscar as his assistant before the latter took the job as Barcelona youth coach. At Barca, Oscar worked with such emerging talents as current first team defenders Martin Montoya and Marc Bartra and Everton winger Gerard Deulofeu. This background should give Oscar an ability to work with Saints' own successful academy talented and even give him an insider knowledge of up and coming Barca talent like Deulofeu. Since then his rise has been rapid, winning the title with one year at Tel Aviv, getting Brighton to the play-offs in one year there, and now, having quit Brighton, he is looking to achieve the same at a higher level. His next club may well worry that he will only spend one season with them as he has at his previous clubs, but if he can bring a little more Barcelona to Saints then maybe one season will be all he needs.
