With Yahoo! on the brink of cutting a rumored 2,000 staff (officially, the company has said they’ll be losing 1,500 pairs of hands), talk is turning to who might be the next CEO for the struggling search company.

Rumors doing the rounds suggest that former Vodafone CEO could be on the shortlist of people the company is considering hiring to fill the shoes of Jerry Yang. While it’s not in any way confirmed, many think Yahoo would be wise to announce a new leader around the same time it’s announcing the firings. You know, soften the blow, or something.

Anyway, the ex-Vodafone boss stepped down just before June of this year. Arun Sarin retired following five years of service to the leading telecommunications company. Sarin became Chief Executive in July 2003 during which his time with the company saw it expand into emerging markets such as Romania, Czech Republic and Turkey as well as acquire Hutchison Essar.

Successes aside, we’d be wary of this rumor. When Sarin left Vodafone, the company announced that the CEO had retired. No mention of “leaving to pursue other opportunities” or “explore other avenues” which would lead us to believe that the 54 year old man is done with work and ready to live out the rest of his days as a man of leisure.

We’ll keep you posted on any developments with the replacement Yahoo! CEO as well as news of the layoffs.