Chelsea

Chelsea

Premier League • England

Next Chelsea manager: Top coach races ‘ahead of Luis Enrique’ to become prime Boehly candidate after positive talks held

Luis Enrique of Spain

A Chelsea managerial candidate has leapfrogged Luis Enrique to put themselves in pole position to become Graham Potter’s replacement, according to a report.

Chelsea have identified Enrique as a potential solution to their current woes. The Blues have appointed Frank Lampard on an interim basis but have endured a poor start under the club legend.

His predecessor, Potter, was expected to take the club into a glorious new era, with chairman Todd Boehly providing all the necessary money to create a world-class squad.

But Potter could not handle the size of the job, or even the size of the bloated squad for that matter.

Enrique has great pedigree, having won the Champions League and two La Liga titles during a previous spell in charge of Barcelona.

Enrique has had two spells in charge of the Spain national team, the first lasting from July 2018 to March 2019 and the second lasting from November 2019 to December 2022. He could not help Spain add any more silverware to their illustrious honours list.

READ MORE: Chelsea ‘moving quickly’ to steal signing from Barcelona in Raphinha revenge, as Fabrizio Romano quashes Arsenal hopes

Nevertheless, he remains one of the most respected coaches in the world, which is why Chelsea are interested in him.

But it seems Chelsea have decided to bring in someone else. As per Sky Sport Germany, Julian Nagelsmann ‘is now ahead of Enrique’ in the race to become Chelsea’s next boss.

Chelsea set sights on Luis Enrique alternative

Nagelsmann has emerged as Boehly’s prime candidate to succeed from Lampard this summer. That comes after the German recently held positive discussions with the Chelsea hierarchy.

Enrique presented his project and ideas for the Chelsea team earlier this month. But Chelsea seem to have been left more impressed by what Nagelsmann has planned.

The report notes that Mauricio Pochettino, Luciano Spalletti and Ruben Amorim are also of interest to the west London side. But as things stand, Nagelsmann is the main target.

The tactician, who is only 35 years of age, guided Bayern to last season’s Bundesliga title, as well as the German super cup.

However, Bayern released Nagelsmann from his contract in March. At the time, the German titans were a point behind Dortmund in the title race, though they had reached the Champions League and DFB-Pokal quarter-finals.

It will be intriguing to see how Nagelsmann gets on at Chelsea, should the club go through with his appointment. He does have a couple of years experience managing big-name players, something which cannot be said of Potter.

Although, The Athletic’s Bundesliga reporter Raphael Honigstein has previously revealed that senior Bayern players were split on whether to back Nagelsmann.

The manager’s main job at Chelsea would be to get them back into the top four next season. This would help massively in the pursuit of top signings and would also help to balance the books after Boehly has spent so much in recent transfer windows.

Meanwhile, Fabrizio Romano has revealed that a Chelsea player has become a ‘priority’ target for Liverpool.