FA to talk to manager Eriksson

The FA's search for a successor to Kevin Keegan reaches Italy on Thursday with talks expected to open with Lazio manager Sven-Goran Eriksson.

The FA's search for a successor to Kevin Keegan reaches Italy on Thursday with talks expected to open with Lazio manager Sven-Goran Eriksson.

Reports in Italy say the Football Association's chief executive Adam Crozier will arrive to speak to Eriksson.

Eriksson, whose contract with the Italian champions finishes at the end of the season, is believed to be one of three candidates on an FA hit-list. The others are Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger and Roy Hodgson.

Italian sports newspaper Tuttosport reported that Crozier will arrive in Rome to hold initial talks about the prospect of Eriksson taking over at the end of the Serie A campaign.

Meanwhile former Italy coach Arrigo Sacchi today threw his hat into the ring to take over the hot-seat vacated by Kevin Keegan after the defeat by Germany on October 7.

Sacchi, who coached the Azzurri to the World Cup final in 1994, is currently without a club and revealed he would take on the England job if offered the chance.

"I would be very happy to be in charge of a great national team like England," he said.

Sacchi's last coaching job was at Spanish club Atletico Madrid, where he quit after just nine months in charge in February 1999, but as AC Milan boss he won European Cup titles in 1989 and 1990 and revived the San Siro club before taking on the Italian national job.

His name has not yet been seriously mentioned in connection with the England job, but, like Eriksson, Wenger and Hodgson, he possesses an impressive CV and perhaps crucially to the English style of play, he is an advocate of - and has been successful in using - the 4-4-2 system.