Leicester City are considering making an approach to recruit Republic of Ireland manager Martin O'Neill, sources have confirmed to ESPN FC.
Football Association of Ireland chiefs are now braced for advances from Leicester to assess the availability of their 63-year-old tactician after betting was suspended on O'Neill making a return to the club he managed between 1995 and 2000 on Friday morning.
The Leicester Mercury -- a newspaper with good connections at the club -- are reporting that O'Neill has emerged as the leading contender to replace Nigel Pearson, who was sacked by the club last month.
A move for O'Neill would be welcomed by Leicester fans, as his time in charge of the club is remember fondly as it included promotion to the Premier League and two League Cup final wins in 1997 and 2000.
While it remains to be seen whether O'Neill would be prepared to leave his post as Republic of Ireland boss with his team in the midst of a tight qualifying campaign for the Euro 2016 finals, a return to the Premier League and Leicester in particular may appeal to the former Northern Ireland international.
The Mercury also reported that Leicester sounded out Guus Hiddink for their managerial vacancy following his departure as Netherlands boss, but the negative response received from the veteran coach inspired them to look at alternative candidates.
Leicester's Thai owners are believed to be looking to recruit an established manager with Premier League or top level experience and O'Neill will tick many of their boxes in a career that has also included spells in charge of Celtic, Aston Villa and Sunderland.
Earlier this week, former United States international Predrag "Preki" Radosavljevic led speculation for the Leicester job after confirming he had left his post with the Sacramento Republic to take a head coaching position at an unspecified team in the United Kingdom.