Roberto De Zerbi ‘NOT ruled out by Chelsea’ as they work through four-man shortlist to replace Pochettino
CHELSEA have not ruled Roberto De Zerbi out as a potential candidate to replace Mauricio Pochettino in the dugout ahead of next term.
The Blues are looking for a new manager after Pochettino suddenly left Stamford Bridge after only a season in charge despite leading the club to European qualification.
Who could be the next Chelsea manager?
HERE are the seven names in the running to replace Mauricio Pochettino after his shock exit from Chelsea.
Roberto De Zerbi
The Italian left Brighton at the end of the season after a year and a half in charge. He was linked with a host of top jobs earlier in the campaign but a difficult run of results saw him fall out of contention for the likes of Liverpool. De Zerbi’s attacking, front-foot style would be popular at Stamford Bridge.
Kieran McKenna
The former Manchester United assistant has led Ipswich to back-to-back promotions from League One to the Premier League. That has seen his stock shoot through the roof and he may be tempted to jump ship for a big job.
Enzo Maresca
Maresca was Pep Guardiola’s assistant at Manchester City and has worked wonders at Leicester, settling the ship to send the Foxes back to the Premier League at the first attempt. Appointing a Pep disciple has turned Arsenal into title contenders, so it could work for Chelsea too.
Hansi Flick
Flick was one of football’s most in-demand managers after winning the Champions League with Bayern Munich. But it all went wrong in his next role becoming the first manager ever to be sacked by Germany. Now he’s ready to return and could be a smart move for the Blues
Sebastian Hoeness
Chelsea fans may not have heard of him, but Hoeness is Germany’s next big thing. Hoeness has transformed Stuttgart from relegation candidates to the second best team in the Bundesliga, finishing above Bayern Munich. Only invincible Bayer Leverkusen got in the way of a miracle.
Michel
Michel Sanchez has worked wonders with little Girona in Spain. The minnows were right in the LaLiga title race at Christmas before watching Real Madrid shoot into the distance. But they ran illustrious Catalan neighbours Barcelona all the way for second and are guaranteed a spot on the Champions League. Reports in Spain say that has caught Chelsea’s attention.
Jose Mourinho
Still adored by fans at Stamford Bridge, who never warmed to former Spurs boss Pochettino, Mourinho would be a popular pick. Winner of three Premier League with the Blues across two topsy-turvy spells, could he be the man to take Chelsea back to the top?
According to The Telegraph, the West Londoners have narrowed their search down to four candidates.
That includes Leicester’s Enzo Maresca, Ipswich’s Kieran McKenna and Brentford’s Thomas Frank.
There has been no confirmation whether or not De Zerbi, 44, is officially the fourth unnamed coach.
However, the same source claims the Italian tactician has not yet been chalked off.
Nevertheless, the ex-Brighton boss is currently considered to be an “outlier”.
If Chelsea signed De Zerbi then the Seagulls could still be due around £5million in compensation, which is much cheaper than the £15m he would have cost if he was still working at the Amex Stadium.
The ex-Shakhtar Donetsk manager would have to demonstrate that he could work within Chelsea’s club structure and cooperate with sporting directors Paul Winstanley as well as Laurence Stewart.
This comes after De Zerbi expressed frustration in the Brighton model last season while many within football view him as a challenging character.
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Nevertheless, there is still no clear favourite to replace Pochettino at the helm.
However, Maresca, McKenna and Frank all have internal support within Chelsea.
Director of recruitment and talent Joe Shields worked with Maresca at Manchester City when the Italian was Pep Guardiola’s assistant manager at a time when Cole Palmer played under him.
McKenna’s stunning progress at Ipswich has been tracked by the Premier League giants for some time.
And Chelsea’s incoming set-piece specialist Bernardo Cueva worked closely with Frank at Brentford.
But De Zerbi is well known by director of global recruitment Sam Jewell as they worked together at Brighton.
Moises Caicedo also played under him last season whereas Mykhailo Mudryk and the Italian head coach go way back during their time together at Shakhtar.
Chelsea are beyond a laughing stock
By Andy Dillon
CHELSEA’S longest serving manager under the club’s new owners has left by mutual consent.
The fact that Mauricio Pochettino lasted only 325 days underlines what a basket case of a club it has become.
You might expect a manager to lose his job after five games WITHOUT a win but only Chelsea could lose theirs after five wins on the spin.
When the supporters wrote an open letter to chairman Todd Boehly and his sidekick Behdad Eghbali in March, they expressed fears that their beloved Chelsea was becoming a ‘laughing stock on and off the pitch’.
It is way beyond that now with the departure of the manager who finally looked to be getting a tune out of a squad branded ‘£1billion bottle jobs’ just over two months ago as they crashed to defeat against Liverpool’s youth team in the Carabao Cup Final.
Read Andy Dillon’s full take on the sacking of Pochettino and what it means here.