Richard Keys has questioned whether England are "brave" enough to appoint Lionesses boss Sarina Wiegman as Gareth Southgate's successor.
The former Sky Sports presenter has been engaged in a Twitter spat with Jamie Carragher amid ongoing debate over Southgate's future following England's heartbreaking World Cup exit against France at the quarter-final stage.
Earlier this week, Carragher asserted that the England manager should always be English, prompting Keys to accuse the Liverpool legend of "borderline racism" and claim the national side should be led by the best person for the job, regardless of their nationality.
In a fresh tweet on Tuesday, the beIN Sports anchor said: "Sorry @Carra23 Too busy having fun to notice your reply. I didn't tweet you.
"I made the point that those views are outdated & small minded. They border on racist. Inclusivity in every sense is strength. Are we brave enough to consider Sarina Wiegman?"
Wiegman became the first permanent foreign coach of the Lionesses when she took over from Phil Neville in September 2021 and her appointment has proved to be inspired. The Dutch manager guided the Lionesses to glory at the summer's Euros to secure the nation's first piece of silverware since 1966.
The 53-year-old arrived in England with an exceptional CV, having previously won the European Championship with Netherlands in 2017 and having twice been named The Best FIFA Women's Coach. With Wiegman at the helm, the Lionesses have gone 26 games unbeaten and are gearing up to add to their trophy haul at the Women's World Cup next summer.
While the Dutch coach has shown she can succeed on the biggest stage, appointing her as manager of the men's side would likely ruffle some feathers. However, the debate about Southgate's successor may be premature, with the 52-year-old still under contract with the Three Lions until after the European Championship in the summer of 2024.
Speaking after Saturday's World Cup exit, Southgate said: "Look, I've found large parts of the last 18 months difficult. For everything that I've loved about the last few weeks, I still know how things have been for 18 months.
"What's been said and what's been written, the night at Wolves [a 4-0 loss to Hungary], there's lots of things in my head that's really conflicted at the moment, so what I want to make sure, if it's the right thing to say, is that I've definitely got the energy to do that."
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