The chances of Lee Carsley returning to Coventry City as head coach appear to have diminished after the FA indicated he’ll be staying with England’s Under-21s.

The former Sky Blues midfielder ended his interim spell in charge of England with a fifth win in six games on Sunday evening, thrashing the Republic of Ireland 5-0 at Wembley.

While Thomas Tuchel set to take over the national team, FA CEO Mark Bullingham said Carsley still has a ‘vital role’ to play in developing talent for the senior squad.

“Lee will now return to the Under-21s and will continue to play a vital role supporting the seniors by developing England’s best young players,” he said.

“His leadership and coaching gives us the best possible chance of back-to-back U21 Euro wins next summer, and he will continue to play a big part in elite football development across the FA.”

Frank Lampard is the heavy odds-on favourite with bookmakers to replace Mark Robins with Coventry owner Doug King confirming the former Chelsea and Derby boss has submitted his CV, while one-time Sky Blues striker Robbie Keane is a distant second in the betting.

Carsley was a development coach at Coventry early in his career and actually took over as caretaker first-team Sky Blues boss in February 2013 following Robins’ departure to Huddersfield, although he left for Sheffield United that summer.