Ryan Giggs: Swansea City eager to speak with Manchester United assistant boss about replacing Garry Monk

EXCLUSIVE: United No 2 fits the bill perfectly for chairman Jenkins who is keen on recruiting young and rising coach

Ryan Giggs (second right) on the bench alongside manager Louis van Gaal during Manchester United’s Champions League exit at the hands of Wolfsburg on Tuesday night (Reuters)

Swansea City are keen to assess Ryan Giggs’s managerial intentions before making a final decision on the identity of Garry Monk’s successor at the Liberty Stadium, The Independent can reveal.

Giggs, currently acting as Louis van Gaal’s assistant manager at Manchester United, has made no secret of his desire to pursue a career in management. The 42-year-old is widely regarded as one of the leading candidates to succeed Van Gaal at Old Trafford when the Dutchman’s contract expires at the end of the 2016-17 campaign.

But Swansea are determined to investigate every possible option, and the Welsh club are understood to be ready to speak to Giggs about replacing Monk in the event that the former Wales international is prepared to consider leaving United to begin his managerial career.

Having seen Brendan Rodgers reject the opportunity to return to South Wales to take charge of the club he left in 2012 in order to take charge of Liverpool, Swansea are considering a wide range of candidates to succeed Monk.

The club’s chairman, Huw Jenkins, is open-minded about potential appointments, but the prospect of luring Giggs to Swansea would be regarded as a major coup and would also fit the Jenkins blueprint of hiring emerging coaches who favour attacking football.

Cardiff-born Giggs, who won 63 caps for Wales, moved into coaching as player-coach under David Moyes following Sir Alex Ferguson’s retirement as manager in May 2013. Following Moyes’s dismissal in April 2014, Giggs took charge of United as caretaker manager for four games before being appointed as assistant to Van Gaal, with the expectation that he would be groomed to take charge on a permanent basis at the end of the former Ajax, Barcelona and Bayern Munich manager’s reign.

However, with Van Gaal entering the final 18 months of his United contract, there remains uncertainty over the club’s intentions, with former Real Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti admitting to The Independent this week that he would be keen to take charge at Old Trafford following Van Gaal’s departure.

With his former United team-mate Gary Neville now moving into management with Valencia, who lost to Lyons in his first game in charge in the Champions League on Wednesday night, Giggs’s lack of management experience could ultimately see him miss out on the top job at Old Trafford – a realisation which Swansea could look to exploit if Giggs fails to receive assurances from the United hierarchy that he is regarded as a serious contender to manage the club.

Swansea are unlikely to make an appointment before this weekend’s Premier League fixture against Manchester City at the Etihad Stadium.

The Wales manager, Chris Coleman, has joined Rodgers in ruling himself out of the running. Avram Grant, the former Chelsea and West Ham manager, is the latest possible candidate to emerge, but Jenkins is believed to be keen to recruit a rising, young coach.

Persuading Giggs to leave United would be a challenge, but the prospect of a move into management in the Premier League with a club regarded as being a well-run, forward-thinking operation could yet pave the way for Swansea to be successful.