According to multiple reports, the Portuguese manager is one signature away from being inked as the new Fiorentina manager - to replace Vincenzo Montella, who was fired earlier this month.
It will be the first managerial experience for the former Portugal international but he already knows how the Serie A works, since he used to play for Juventus back in the 1990s with relative success.
Sousa has lifted plenty of silverware - as a player and as a manager
Paulo Sousa has been quite successful both on and off the pitch. As a player he won several accolades with Borussia Dortmund, Juventus and Benfica and he won back-to-back UEFA Champions League titles with the first two teams. As a manager he has led Videoton to a Hungary League Cup (2011-12) and two Super Cups (2011, 2012), Maccabi Tel Aviv to an Israel Premier League title (2012-13) and FC Basel to a Swiss Super League (2014-15).
Can he take Fiorentina to the next level?
Upon completion of the deal, Fiorentina will be his third team in the last three seasons for the 44-year-old manager. The Viola fans will surely try to make him stay for a longer period of time if the results are successful but based on his recent campaigns all over the continent, there's no reason to think Sousa won't have success in a team that features quality players like Neto, Gonzalo Rodriguez, Borja Valero or Matias Fernandez.
The deal hasn't been made as official yet since Paulo Sousa still needs to end his contractual relationship with FC Basel but that's expected to occur in the coming hours.