UPDATE (Sept. 29): Talks around Barnsley's Gerhard Struber becoming the next Red Bulls head coach are heating up, with the BBC reporting the MLS club has made a formal approach to Championship side Barnsley to land the Austrian. While Struber's services aren't officially secured, they seem to be progressing.
UPDATE (Sept. 27): The Red Bulls have reached an agreement with Struber and will pay Barnsley $2.3 million for the right to sign the coach, according to Sky Sports Austria's Gerhard Krabath.
Struber will reportedly sign a three-year contract as the Red Bulls' next full-time manager.
The New York Red Bulls are in search of a new head coach after parting ways with Chris Armas earlier this month, and a report out of England suggest the team may be looking in the English Championship for Armas's replacement.
Barnsley's Gerhard Struber, who has been in charge since November, is the man being linked to the job, according to a Thursday report from freelance journalist Peter O'Rourke.
Struber arrived in England with Barnsley sitting in last place in the Championship table, and managed to help them avoid relegation by one point at the end of the season. Barnsley has been off to a tough start this season, opening with two losses in the Championship and getting knocked out of the Carabao Cup in the third round by Chelsea.
Struber also has strong connections to the Red Bull family of soccer teams. He ended his playing career with a stint at Red Bull Salzburg in 2008, and began his coaching career at the club. From 2009 to 2010, he coached Salzburg's U-19 team, then returned to the club in 2014, first coaching the U-15 team and then the U-16 team before returning to his job with the U-19 team and eventually taking charge of their professional feeder team, FC Liefering. He left the Red Bull Salzburg setup in 2019 and managed Austrian side Wolfsberger before joining Barnsley.
The Red Bulls have won two and lost two — including an impressive 4-1 win at Miami on Wednesday night — under interim head coach Bradley Carnell, who took over for Armas on September 5. Struber is one of the first names rumored to be in the running for the first coaching vacancy under new Head of Sport Kevin Thelwell.
