Chelsea will try to interview at least five candidates to permanently succeed Graham Potter with co-controlling owners Todd Boehly and Behdad Eghbali handing over power to sporting directors Laurence Stewart and Paul Winstanley.
Julian Nagelsmann has been made the early favourite for the full-time post and has worked in the past with Stewart and Chelsea’s technical director Christopher Vivell at RB Leipzig.
But sources are adamant that the Chelsea job is not Nagelsmann’s to turn down at this stage, with the club determined to go through what they see as an exhaustive process to find the right man.
Stewart, Winstanley and Eghbali were all at Chelsea’s Cobham training ground on Monday to start work on the search for a permanent successor to Potter, who was sacked on Sunday afternoon.
The Chelsea players were addressed as a group before Monday’s afternoon training session by Stewart and Winstanley, who spoke about Potter’s departure and reminded the squad what is still left to play for. Training was taken by interim head coach Bruno Saltor, Bjorn Hamberg and a coach from the Under-23s.
Other than seeking talks with Nagelsmann, Chelsea are also expected to interview Mauricio Pochettino and Luis Enrique, both of whom are out of work, while talks are likely to be sought with representatives of Napoli’s Luciano Spalletti and at least one more candidate, which might include Eintracht Frankfurt’s Oliver Glasner or Sporting’s Ruben Amorim.
All of those managers have different approaches and personalities, so Chelsea will make thorough checks and complete due diligence to judge who is best equipped to lead their expensive project.
Without a sporting team to lean on last September, Boehly and Eghbali conducted the process to hire Potter themselves and only interviewed two candidates, the former Brighton head coach and Pochettino.
There have been accusations that Chelsea paid the price for rushing the appointment of Potter and Boehly and Eghbali have now put Stewart and Winstanley in charge of the process with the co-controlling owners planning to play supporting roles.
It means Boehly and Egbali are unlikely to be present in all of the initial interviews and will not need to base themselves full-time in the United Kingdom during the search.
Despite the fact Chelsea play the first leg of their Champions League quarter-final tie against Real Madrid next week, no timescale has been put on the hunt for a new permanent manager with Bruno Saltor being put in temporary charge.
Chelsea are, however, aware that Tottenham Hotspur are looking for a new head coach and that Real Madrid and Paris Saint-Germain could enter the manager market at the end of the season.
Sources are adamant the availability of Nagelsmann, who was sacked by Bayern Munich, and Tottenham’s decision to part ways with Antonio Conte did not influence the timing of their decision on Potter. But there is a recognition that leaving a change until the summer could have put Chelsea’s back against a wall in terms of finding the right replacement.
Reports in Germany have claimed that Nagelsmann would be interested in taking the permanent Chelsea job, but that he would prefer to have a break and wait until the summer before starting work. Pochettino has shown an interest in the post in the past, but, like Nagelsmann, could also receive other offers.
Potter has already been linked with an immediate return to work with Leicester City, who sacked Brendan Rodgers on Sunday, but the 47-year-old is planning to take a break before deciding on his next job.
Chelsea still rate Potter very highly and believe he will go on to prove himself a top coach, and the former Brighton man is unlikely to be short of offers over the coming months.
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