Former Ipswich Town manager Mick McCarthy is closing in on a return to management.

The 62-year-old has been out of work since leaving his role as Republic of Ireland boss earlier this year and hasn’t worked at club level since his departure from Portman Road at the end of the 2017/18 season.

However, he is close to becoming the new manager of Cypriot side APOEL Nicosia, with the club revealing he is expecting on the island in the coming days to finalise the appointment.

“APOEL Football informs that it expects Irish coach Michael McCarthy to be in Cyprus tomorrow so that discussions on the possibility of cooperation can be concluded,” they tweeted.

APOEL have won the Cypriot title a record 28 times and have a number of familiar players in their squad, including former Sheffield Wednesday forward Atdhe Nuhiu and ex-Chelsea youngster Ben Sahar.

They competed in this season’s Europa League qualifying rounds but exited at the hands of Czech side Slovan Liberec, who beat Joe Royle’s Ipswich in 2002/03.