Opinion

Next Chelsea manager: Julian Nagelsmann, Mauricio Pochettino or Jose Mourinho? Examining runners and riders

Updated 06/04/2023 at 08:05 GMT

Will Chelsea bring in former Bayern Munich manager Julian Nagelsmann to replace the recently fired Graham Potter? Or will they look perhaps to former Tottenham Hotspur manager Mauricio Pochettino instead? Or could they even go for the emotional return of Jose Mourinho? In this article, we dive into all the possibilities for the next Chelsea manager.

Nagelsmann, Pochettino or Mourinho? Next Chelsea manager runners and riders

Chelsea Football Club are once again looking for a new manager after it was confirmed on Sunday that Graham Potter has become the second manager new owner Todd Boehly has fired in under a year.

Based on the current life span of Chelsea coaches being around six months, the stakes could be very high for the next manager to take on the role.

Former Bayern Munich manager Julian Nagelsmann, himself the recent victim of a rather surprising sacking, is currently the bookies' favourite, but let’s take a look at all of the available options and what they might bring to the job.

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Note, we are leaving out interim manager Bruno Saltor as there have been no reports suggesting he will get the job permanently, although it does sound like he will have at least a few games in charge and possibly remain in his post until the end of the season.

All odds correct at the time of writing.

Julian Nagelsmann – Unemployed, current odds 1/3

Nagelsmann is currently out of work after his surprise sacking at Bayern Munich during the international break when it was reported that the board felt they had to make a change ahead of some pivotal games coming up.

Thomas Tuchel, the other former Boehly manager, was the man chosen to replace Nagelsmann, and he certainly justified his new employer’s decision with a thumping 4-2 win over title rivals Borussia Dortmund in his first game in charge on Saturday.

Nagelsmann was once considered the heir to Pep Guardiola’s throne due to his rapid rise within football. There is no doubt he is still one of the most tactically astute managers around, but after the way his tenure at Bayern ended, there were some question marks over his personal management skills, a trait that managers have often had brutally exposed in the unforgiving environment at Stamford Bridge.

Julian Nagelsmann

Image credit: Imago

Brendan Rodgers – Unemployed, 6/1

Brendan Rodgers was fired just hours earlier with Leicester City in the relegation zone and we did not anticipate seeing him as the second favourite in the betting odds.

There is no denying that there is skill there - he is a trophy-winning manager, after all. He’s certainly polarising: some people think he offers little as a manager, but there are others who still think there are the makings of a really good top-tier manager. Admittedly, at a certain point you do start running out of chances.

However, there is certainly an argument for giving him a contract until the end of the season to see how the players respond to him and perhaps putting in a clause that triggers in the case of European qualification.

Leicester City Manager Brendan Rodgers ahead of the Premier League match between Leicester City and Manchester United at King Power Stadium on September 1, 2022 in Leicester, England.

Image credit: Getty Images

Luis Enrique – Unemployed, 14/1

Enrique has also been linked to Chelsea’s London rivals Tottenham Hotspur as they continue their search for a replacement for Antonio Conte, and he has made no secret of his desire to work in the Premier League.

Enrique’s Barcelona team was one of the best attacking units we have seen this century, but he really struggled at Roma and Celta Vigo. Even his time with Spain wasn’t exactly littered with success, although there’s certainly an argument to be made that he was working with a slightly shallower pool of talent compared to previous managers.

But if you are looking for someone with a vastly different pedigree compared to your previous manager, you could do worse than look to Enrique. Over 500 games for Real Madrid and Barcelona as a player, as well as 62 caps for Spain. As a manager, he had nearly 200 games winning La Liga twice, the Copa del Rey three times and the 2015 Champions League.

Luis Enrique claps the Spain fans after bowing out of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar

Image credit: Getty Images

Mauricio Pochettino – Unemployed, 14/1

Pochettino is still thought to be under strong consideration to return to his former club Tottenham after his time in PSG came to an end last summer. Given how quickly Chelsea and Tottenham have traded managers in recent years, the idea that his past at Spurs would be a problem seems highly unlikely.

Pochettino comes with the Premier League pedigree. The work he did transforming Spurs was hugely impressive, and he understands all the demands the league entails. Fans would have no doubts about him being able to come straight in and hit the ground running.

The real problem for Chelsea is whether Spurs might now make a more aggressive push for Pochettino rather than risk losing him to their rivals. And there’s a good argument, given the emotional connection, that Pochettino may prefer that option, despite how it ended last time. That really seems to be the only downside, though. Pochettino is still a really good Premier League manager until proven otherwise.

Mauricio Pochettino

Image credit: Getty Images

Jose Mourinho – AS Roma, 16/1

If this was another Premier League job would Jose Mourinho have been included? Somehow we doubt it, to be honest. But whenever Chelsea are looking for a new manager, you know Mourinho will be included. We don’t think Boehly is necessarily seeking out Mourinho, but it probably has to be under consideration given his connection with the fans.

Roma have been having a decent season under Mourinho. They are right in the race for the top four and are in the Europa League quarter-finals as well. You know what you’re getting with Mourinho at this stage in his career, he will come in and organise the team. Plus he seems to be using young players more than ever.

Ultimately, Mourinho is a winner, despite some of his struggles in recent years, and bringing Roma their first trophy since 2014 was no mean feat.

Jose Mourinho

Image credit: Eurosport

The rest of the pack

There’s a lot of random options when you scroll through the betting odds, and rather than waste your time with each and every one of them, here are a few we think are worth watching.

The main two to mention here are Zinedine Zidane and Marco Silva. Zidane’s pedigree is known to every single football fan in the world and he would be the marquee appointment it seems that Boehly might crave. The problem being that for all intents and purposes, it seems that he might be waiting for the PSG or Juventus jobs to come up, or even France after the 2024 European Championships.

Silva is very low on the betting odds but a lot of media reports are mentioning him as an option. He has done sterling work with Fulham and has generally done well at most clubs. But does Boehly really want another promising young manager who has done well with a mid-table Premier League club?

For reference, we did also consider Thomas Frank, who is a fascinating young manager and deserves a shot at a top job, but for Boehly it might seem like a re-tread of Potter, similar to Silva. Plus the Dane signed a new contract keeping him at Brentford until 2027.

Zinedine Zidane

Image credit: Eurosport

There are also the managers with a Chelsea connection, most notably Didier Deschamps and Carlo Ancelotti. It doesn’t seem that Ancelotti is necessarily interested in another club job that isn’t Real Madrid and Deschamps appears to be very happy to be the France boss until they tell him to stop coming to the office. But with Boehly’s riches you can never say never.

Finally, there are the real wild-card options. We don’t necessarily think that this would happen, but everything we’ve seen from Boehly suggests that he is not above doing something completely out of the box.

So to that end, we say to you, don’t 100% write off John Terry or Emma Hayes. Those two individuals are on completely different spheres when it comes to managerial pedigree with Hayes having achieved so much in the women's game. We think that for the most part (seriously like 99%), you can disregard them as options - but this is Chelsea so there could be a surprise.

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