A change of sporting director seems likely sooner rather than later as it’s understood Watford have approached Eintracht Frankfurt to speak to their Director of Professional Football, Ben Manga.

In fact the 48-year-old former player could even arrive at Vicarage Road during the World Cup break if reports in German football magazine Kicker are accurate.

Clearly this would bring into question the future of the current incumbent at Vicarage Road, Cristiano Giaretta.

The Italian was set to leave Watford only a couple of months ago, shortly before the removal of Rob Edwards as head coach.

On that occasion, Edwards had told his staff and players that Giaretta had left and outlined how the new footballing set-up would operate.

However, within days it was Edwards who had been shown the door and Giaretta had returned.

Since then Slaven Bilic has taken over head coach duties and although he has referred to Giaretta as being very helpful in making sure he and his team have what they need, it’s no surprise that the Italian’s return is more of a temporary stay of execution rather than being part of longer term plans.

The Watford Observer understands Giaretta’s contract only runs for the rest of this season, and it remains to be seen whether he’ll stay within the employment of the Pozzos, or make a clean break altogether.

One idea that has been mooted before is Watford adopting a model where they have both a Sporting Director and a Technical Director.

If that were to be the case, then Manga would clearly take on player recruitment via the Sporting Director role, leaving Giaretta to focus on the other areas within a Technical Director role.

Far from a favourite with Watford fans, Giaretta also suffered an embarrassing Instagram faux pas in the summer.

Manga was a full international for Equitorial Guinea during his playing career, but his club football was played mainly in the lower leagues in Germany though he did start his career at Fortuna Dusseldorf, where he made a handful of appearances.

Manga has worked at Eintracht since 2016, initially as chief scout but more currently Director of Professional Football.

During that time he has unearthed players such as French Under-21 international Evan Ndicka, Serbian striker Luka Jovic, French striker Randal Kolo-Muani and Colombian international forward Rafael Santos Borre.

When he became chief scout the club had just finished 16th in the Bundesliga and only stayed up thanks to their success in a relegation play-off.

Since then, with the benefit of Manga’s ability to find and attract young talent and also identify players that his coaches need, Eintracht have finished as high as fifth and not lower than 11th.

Then last season they won the Europa League, beating Rangers 5-4 on penalties after the game had ended 1-1.

Incredibly, the 11 players that started the final for Eintracht cost a combined €45m, which was less than the fee they received when they sold Sebastien Haller to West Ham a couple of years earlier.

When Manga was promoted to Director of Professional Football, Eintracht’s manager at the time Fredi Bobic (the former German international) said: "Ben played a major part in Eintracht's success and the development over the last few years. His instinct for talents and his ability to spot them is highly developed, and I think he can further grow in the new structure laid out for him."

It is believed that Manga has a contract with the German club until 2026, but Bobic leaving to join Hertha Berlin last summer may have precipitated Manga’s desire to leave.