Will Still harbours Premier League ambition and may follow Vincent Kompany route

Will Still has ambitions to manage in the Premier League and would be open to following a similar route to Vincent Kompany by moving to a Championship club.

The 30-year-old has been one of the most talked about coaches in European football this season after doing a fine job with Ligue 1 side Reims.

Taking over from Oscar Garcia in October, Reims embarked on a club-record 19-game unbeaten league run until a 2-1 reverse at home to Marseille on Sunday – with Still taking charge for 17 of those.

Still, whose only other defeat as boss was in the Coupe de France, was brought up by English parents in Belgium before moving to England as a teenager where he studied to become a coach.

His name was mentioned for recent managerial posts at Leeds United and Southampton and, while he believes it is too soon to have been touted for such positions, Still would love a crack at England’s top flight one day.

“It just seems completely stupid to me that my name is being put up against names that have done so much more and have been so many more places than I have,” he told Sky Sports.

“I wouldn’t ever dare to compare myself to those people.

“I’ve never really thought about it [managing in the Premier League] because I never expected to be in the position I am so early and so suddenly. Why not? I’ve done some crazy things in the past; I was head coach at 24 and the same thing happened at 28 back in Belgium and now I’m 30 and people are saying this is crazy.

“Being English and growing up in an English environment in Belgium, England has always felt like home and a place that I’d love to go back to. It would feel like coming home, just because the English culture is part of me, part of my roots, part of my family, part of who I am.

“I think if you asked any kid what they would like to do, they’d say they’d love to be a Premier League footballer or manager and I’m no different. I was brought up like everyone else and had the same dreams. I’ll keep at them.

“If it happens one day I’ll deserve it, or I hope I will have deserved it, but I realise how much work there is to do before I get there and how much I’ve got to learn. For now, I will stick it to one side.”