Crystal Palace offer ex-Ajax boss Frank de Boer manager job after Sam Allardyce quit at end of last season
FRANK DE BOER has been offered the Crystal Palace job by Steve Parish.
The former Ajax and Inter Milan boss would succeed Sam Allardyce, who left Selhurst Park at the end of last season.
The 47-year-old former Dutch ace has been out of work since his ill-fated spell at the San Siro last year.
Palace are without a manager and are keen to get an appointment nailed down with the transfer window opening on July 1.
De Boer will be the South London club's third manager in the past 12 months after Alan Pardew was sacked last December.
The former Barcelona defender will be tasked with both keeping Palace in the Premier League and keeping star players such as Christian Benteke and Wilfried Zaha firing.
He will also bring some continental stardust to the job with experience of playing at some of Europe's top clubs including Ajax, Barca and Rangers.
Joe Ledley is set to leave the club on a free and has been tipped for a move to West Brom, Aston Villa and Derby.
Palace were one point above the relegation zone when Allardyce took over on December 23.
But they scrapped out eight wins and two draws in 21 games as they finished 14th on 41 points as Hull were relegated in 18th on 34 points.
Frank de Boer factfile
- Born in Hoorn in Holland in 1970 along with twin brother Ronald before the pair went on to have a remarkable career together.
- Began his career as left back for Ajax where he won five Eredivisie titles, the Uefa Cup and the Champions League in 1995.
- De Boer went on to make 328 appearances for Ajax before Louis van Gaal’s famous 1995 team featuring Clarence Seedorf, Edgar Davids and Patrick Kluivert were sold off one-by-one.
- He starred for Holland at France 98 as they went on to reach the semi-finals before being beaten by Brazil.
- Louis van Gaal bought both De Boer brothers to Barcelona for £22million in January 1999 and he went on to play four seasons at the Nou Camp winning the La Liga title in his first season.
- He was part of the Dutch team that were knocked out of Euro 2000 by Italy after a semi-final shootout.
- De Boer tested positive for nandrolone in 2001 and was initially banned but later reinstated on appeal.
- He had a brief stint at Galatasaray in 2003.
- De Boer then joined Rangers where his brother Ronald was already playing and played 17 games for the Glasgow club.
- The pair then moved to Al-Rayyan in 2004 before retiring in 2006.
- De Boer took up coaching at Ajax in 2007 and was named first-team coach in December 2010 after Martin Jol resigned.
- He resigned in May 2016 following a disappointing season but was snapped up by Inter in August.
- But a poor run of results led to his departure after just three months in charge.
