Former Manchester City and Liverpool defender Kolo Toure is reportedly set to be named Wigan Athletic's new manager after his brother Yaya Toure turned down the Championship club.
The Latics are on the lookout for a successor to Leam Richardson, who was relieved of his duties on November 10, just 16 days after signing a new three-year contract.
Richardson – who was named League One Manager of the Year last season after steering Wigan to the title – won only one of his last 10 games in charge and left the Latics in the Championship relegation zone.
Kolo Toure has since emerged as the bookmakers' favourite to take the reins at the DW Stadium, and The Sun reports that Wigan are set to appoint the 41-year-old as their new boss.
The report adds that Wigan owner Talal Al Hammad has flown into London to finalise the appointment of Toure, who is currently a first-team coach under Brendan Rodgers at Leicester City.
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Wigan are said to have initially explored the possibility of appointing his younger brother Yaya, 39, but the former Man City and Barcelona midfielder rejected their approach.
Since retiring in 2019 following a brief spell in China, Yaya stepped into coaching with Ukrainian outfit Olimpik Donetsk and Russian top-flight club Akhmat Grozny in 2021.
The Ivory Coast icon and three-time Premier League winner then received his UEFA A Licence before becoming an Under-16s coach at Tottenham Hotspur in August.
Kolo, meanwhile, has been a coach for the last five years since hanging up his boots in 2017 following just over a year at Celtic.
The 120-cap Ivory Coast international joined Rodgers's coaching staff with the Glaswegian giants shortly after retiring before following the Northern Irishman to Leicester in 2019.
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Kolo now has aspirations of becoming a manager in his own right and is said to have held positive talks with Wigan's hierarchy.
During his playing days, the centre-back won four trophies across a seven-year spell with Arsenal, and he was a member of the famous 2003-04 'Invincibles' team that won the Premier League title under Arsene Wenger.
He then went on to win the 2011-12 Premier League with Man City alongside his brother Yaya, before Rodgers signed the defender for Liverpool in the summer of 2013 and again at Celtic in 2016.
Kolo will become the first African international to manage in English senior football should he be confirmed as Wigan's new manager.
Oliver Thomas
