JULIAN NAGELSMANN OUT OF RUNNING FOR CHELSEA MANAGER, POCHETTINO AND KOMPANY NOW ON SHORTLIST
Former Bayern Munich manager Julian Nagelsmann is out of the running to be the next Chelsea manager, according to Sky Sports.
Chelsea held talks with Nagelsmann in recent weeks concerning him taking over at the club but senior officials at the club have revealed that he wasn’t the preferred candidate and was never regarded as the favourite. Nagelsmann, 35, has only had 7 years’ experience in his managerial career and has no playing or coaching experience in English football, something that was concerning for the hierarchy at Chelsea.
While Nagelsmann’s resume was reportedly a factor for the decision makers at Chelsea, it surprisingly closely resembles that of former Chelsea manager and his successor at Bayern Munich, Thomas Tuchel.
Both Tuchel and Nagelsmann began coaching at a young age, guided two mid-table teams in 1899 Mainz and Hoffenheim respectively into the Europe spots, and stopped just a place shy of winning the Bundesliga. Both finished second behind Bayern Munich during their earlier spells in the German league, Nagelsmann doing it with RB Leipzig in 2020/21 while Tuchel did it with Borussia Dortmund in 2015/16.
The two German managers would go on to win league titles at their next jobs, Nagelsmann winning the Bundesliga with Munich while Tuchel won the Ligue Un with Paris Saint-Germain.
According to multiple reports, Nagelsmann had reservations about the job himself and was of the feeling that Chelsea’s varied shortlist reflected a lack of clarity about the direction the club wanted to take. Nagelsmann is still linked to the Tottenham Hotspur job and is reportedly open to a move to North London and to the English Premier League.
With Nagelsmann out of the running, Chelsea are reportedly keen on acquiring one of Mauricio Pochettino, Vincent Kompany, or one other unnamed candidate. Former Tottenham manager, Mauricio Pochettino has been out of work since July last year, after parting ways with Ligue Un giants, Paris Saint-Germain. Chelsea held initial talks with Pochettino over the managerial position on Thursday.
Chelsea have been long-term admirers of the Argentinian and looked into his availability when Tuchel left the club last year. The 51-year-old is reportedly not in a hurry to make a decision right now and intends to assess his options over the summer. The former Espanyol boss has been approached by Real Madrid twice and has also turned down several offers from clubs in recent months from various leagues across Europe. West Ham United and Aston Villa are reportedly among the teams that have inquired about Pochettino’s availability in recent times.
Vincent Kompany is fresh off a championship with Burnley following their 1-0 win over Blackburn. The 37-year-old has had a stellar season in the second tier of English football, having secured promotion to the Premier League on April 7th, with seven matches left to play and is turning heads after his return to English football.
After two fairly successful seasons in Belgium with Anderlecht, the former Manchester City captain made a return to the English game and has taken it by storm, building his team into one of the more formidable units in the country. Kompany is not opposed to a move to a bigger club but, for now, is reportedly content and focused on finishing the season with Burnley.
Multiple reports suggest that the unnamed candidate for the job might be former Spain manager, Luis Enrique, despite circulating rumours suggesting that he might be out of the race. 52-year-old Enrique stepped down from managing the Spanish national team after a round of 16 exit in the World Cup in Qatar last year. The former Barcelona manager only flew to London a fortnight ago for discussions with Chelsea, but any news on that front has been mum so far.
Enrique’s ties with Spanish and Barcelona midfielder Gavi instantly make him an attractive candidate for the job, with Chelsea reportedly keen on acquiring the long-term services of the 18-year-old midfielder. Gavi and Enrique have a great relationship, and Enrique seems to trust him, something that he demonstrated by starting Gavi in all four matches played by Spain at the World Cup last December.
The race is on to find a new manager, before teams swoop in and take them off the market, and nobody knows that better than new club owners Todd Boehly and Behdad Eghbali. The two club executives have been busy in their first year of ownership, having already sacked Thomas Tuchel, appointed Graham Potter and sacked him before appointing former Chelsea boss Frank Lampard, as the interim manager, inside of 12 months.
The hierarchy at Chelsea is determined to do a thorough and fair assessment of the remaining three candidates for the job before making any long-term decision, Sky Sports reports, with the new manager likely to take over at the club at the end of the season and not before it.
-Maher Abucheri
Twitter: @pabloikonyero
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