While Enzo Maresca insists the progress at Chelsea is clear having had the owners’ backing throughout his first season at Stamford Bridge, reports suggest the Blues board are now ‘divided’ over the Italian’s future.
Amid fan backlash during a run which has seen Chelsea claim just seven wins in 18 Premier League games to move from title challengers to Champions League qualification outsiders there are now said to be ‘serious reservations about his style of play’, while ‘the considerable dip in form from star player Cole Palmer has also raised eyebrows’.
Finishing in the top five will likely save his bacon, with the UEFA Conference League the cherry on top of what would then be a successful season, and even failure to qualify may not lead to his sacking, but we’ve come up with a shortlist of 10 managers we reckon the Chelsea decision-makers will/should be looking at if they show Maresca the door.
Carlo Ancelotti (Real Madrid)
One way of addressing a staggering and costly lack of experience in the youngest squad in the Premier League would be to hire the most experienced manager, who comes with the added bonus of also being one of the most successful in history, and the added, added bonus of some of that success being achieved as Chelsea manager.
The BlueCo conveyor has seen experienced managers swapped for so-called ‘legacy’ options: Thomas Tuchel, then Graham Potter, followed by Mauricio Pochettino before Maresca. So it’s definitely an old-timer’s turn, but we do have doubts as to whether Ancelotti can be f***ed quite frankly; managing Brazil at a World Cup is an enticing alternative.
READ MORE: Who will be the next manager of Real Madrid after they sack Carlo Ancelotti?
Kieran McKenna (Ipswich)
The Look At Vincent Kompany argument rather falls down on the basis that he looks set to achieve the bare minimum with Bayern Munich this season having scored that role on the back of Premier League relegation. But you could argue that McKenna has more credit in the bank following Ipswich’s season than Kompany when he took Burnley down.
Either way it would be a bold move from Chelsea to replace one manager whose career peaked in the Championship with another, no matter how good an impression McKenna made when in talks with the Chelsea bosses last year.
READ MORE: Leeds United: Reassigning Ipswich, Leicester and Southampton sextet to Farke’s side for PL return
Frank Lampard (Coventry)
They couldn’t, could they? Lampard took over at Coventry with them 17th in the Championship table, two points off the relegation spots, and they head into the last game of the season against Middlesbrough knowing that victory will see them claim a play-off spot, assuming Millwall don’t beat Burnley by a six-goal margin, which feels unlikely/would be hilarious given Scott Parker’s side have conceded 15 all season.
He’s done a magnificent job and is clearly a very good manager, in the Championship. And it’s the sort of run which will have Blues fans reflecting on his perfectly decent first season at Stamford Bridge, when his big win was improving young players, which are the only kind of players Chelsea have right now.
The interim term was an absolute disaster and the tactics in his first spell were routinely questioned, but it’s Super Frank Lampard and in a bid to get Chelsea fans – who would like nothing better than him coming back and proving himself worthy – onside, there may just be space for a heart-ruling-head move.
Simone Inzaghi (Inter Milan)
He took Lazio back into the Champions League for the first time in 12 years, has won three Italian Cups (one for Lazio; two for Inter), the Serie A title last season, is locked in a battle with Napoli for a consecutive Scudetto, took an unfancied Inter to the Champions League final in 2023 and is now so highly regarded that he’s seen as the primary reason why an Inter side that doesn’t have the players to match PSG, Barcelona or Arsenal could go all the way this season.
It feels like he’s a manager set for long-term success and Chelsea would love a bit of that.
Liam Rosenior (Strasbourg)
Hull City owner Acun Ilicali said he sacked Rosenior after they just missed out on the Championship play-offs last season over a “football philosophy” which has helped Strasbourg move from 13th last season to seventh this term and just two points off the Champions League qualification spots with three games to play. He’s just been handed a new contract at Strasbourg while Hull are now staring relegation in the face. Serves Ilicali right.
Rosenior will undoubtedly be in any new Chelsea boss conversation with Strasbourg also owned by BlueCo, who would have to fork out compensation in a very on-brand move on the back of their problematic PSR-dodging hotel deals that would see them pay themselves money for his services. He could also be an option for Leeds.
Xavi (free agent)
He was linked with Manchester United before Ruben Amorim was given the job and has continued to be linked with Manchester United throughout Ruben Amorim’s time in the job, because Ruben Amorim’s not been very good at his job.
Xavi’s got plenty of credit in the bank having led Barcelona to the title in the trying ‘lever’ times before deciding to step down rather than being sacked by the Catalan club. He’s said he wants an “exciting project” at a club where “I can win titles” and both of those itches can be scratched by Chelsea. Stop laughing in the back.
Roberto De Zerbi (Marseille)
He rocks the boat and we’re not sure the Chelsea directors will like that, but that’s also why De Zerbi could be a great appointment after a decent season at Marseille, who look set to return to the Champions League after an eighth-place finish last season.
Andoni Iraola (Bournemouth)
The worry for Chelsea and other big clubs (and Tottenham) quite rightly keen on Iraola will be that Bournemouth are either bang in form or woefully out of it. They can pick up results like a Champions League team for part of a season before looking like relegation candidates at the flick of a switch in wild swings that could see a less patient fanbase than Bournemouth’s booing from the rafters before he’s given a chance to get going.
They won 25 points in an unbeaten run of 11 games around Christmas to put them in the running for Champions League football, but ten points from their last 11 has seen them fade into the mid-table and push Iraola down a the shortlist for interested parties that he was right near the top of a few months ago. Still, he will surely get a big job soon.
Marco Silva (Fulham)
We are huge fans of Marco Silva but also utterly convinced he would be a big ol’ flop at a Big Club, which puts him right in the Chelsea wheelhouse.
Cesc Fabregas (Como)
He’s being linked with AC Milan having done a sterling job in his first season as a manager, as a run of four wins on the bounce for Como sees them sitting very comfortably in the Serie A mid-table, with wins over Atalanta, Roma and Napoli forming part of his limited but impressive CV that will surely see him pitch up at a Premier League club sooner rather than later.
The thought of Fabregas joining Chelsea and beating Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal to the title is too delicious a prospect not to root for.
