Harry Redknapp has publicly expressed his desire to return to West Ham, who are managerless after deciding not to renew the contract of Sam Allardyce.

The club have been looking for a replacement for the last few weeks without much success. A number of top names had been linked with the club, but most of them had not progressed to the negotiation stage. Rafa Benitez was seen as the single biggest target, but he decided to join Real Madrid instead. The likes of Frank de Boer continue to be linked with the club, as club co-owner David Sullivan stated that the club would like to bring in a top manager.

This could be in the form of Redknapp, who is free after having left QPR a few months ago. The former Tottenham manager already has experience of being the coach at Upton Park. He has become immensely successful over the last five years especially with Tottenham, while he also led an unlikely Portsmouth team to FA Cup success. Redknapp cited medical reasons as his reason for leaving QPR, but they seem to be beyond him now. The 68-year-old has hinted that he would be interested in bringing Rio Ferdinand as his assistant manager should he get the job.

“I’d like to see him as manager of West Ham. I’d go with him as director of football, that would be a good partnership. I’d love to see him get the opportunity somewhere, he’s young and enthusiastic. “There have been a lot of lads who have gone out of playing and gone straight into management, Gary Monk’s done fantastic at Swansea, so there’s no reason why if given the opportunity somewhere with the right people around him, Rio couldn’t do very well. Rio Ferdinand’s doing his coaching badges and has got a great football brain,” said Redknapp.