Chelsea managerial candidate has 'great relationship' with owner Todd Boehly: report

Chelsea owner Todd Boehly
(Image credit: Getty)

Chelsea are currently finalising their shortlist of managers to take over from Graham Potter in the dugout at Stamford Bridge, after sacking the 47-year-old on Sunday night. 

A 2-0 loss at home to Aston Villa spelled the end of Potter's short-lived tenure in west London, as Chelsea slipped into the bottom half of the Premier League following poor results all season. 

Former Brighton full-back Bruno will lead the team as interim head coach against Liverpool on Tuesday night. The Spaniard worked under Potter as a coach at Brighton after retiring from professional football in 2019, and moved with him earlier this season.

The Athletic reports that Chelsea will thoroughly work through their preferences for the next permanent manager, taking time to ensure the next person to take over is the right fit. 

Julian Nagelsmann has emerged as the favourite to become the next Chelsea manager, having recently been replaced by former Blues boss Thomas Tuchel at Bayern Munich. 

Still only 35, Nagelsmann is a highly promising manager available to work immediately, though it is unclear whether Chelsea will decide to move before the end of the season. 

European football journalist Guillem Balague believes Nagelsmannn is the perfect candidate to deal with the pressures of Chelsea.

He said on BBC Radio 5 Live: "Julian Nagelsmann has a great relationship with the owner of Chelsea [Todd Boehly].

"Chelsea are looking for a name, a personality, someone big enough to deal with what Chelsea has. I put Nagelsmann at the top of that list."

European football journalist Julien Laurens added: "You can find the Bayern sacking harsh, as they could win the treble, but if you look a bit deeper there were issues, some big ones, on and off the pitch with the relationship with his own dressing room."

Out-of-work Mauricio Pochettino is also high on the list of favourites, having not managed since PSG last campaign. The Argentine has been heavily linked with the Tottenham job in the past week, but an opportunity to take over at Chelsea could be more enticing for him. 

Luis Enrique, Zinedine Zidane, Diego Simeone, Jose Mourinho, Brendan Rodgers, Roberto De Zerbi and Thomas Frank have all been linked with the Chelsea job since Potter's sacking, too.

Ryan Dabbs
Staff writer

Ryan is a staff writer for FourFourTwo, joining the team full-time in October 2022. He first joined Future in December 2020, working across FourFourTwo, Golf Monthly, Rugby World and Advnture's websites, before eventually earning himself a position with FourFourTwo permanently. After graduating from Cardiff University with a degree in Journalism and Communications, Ryan earned a NCTJ qualification to further develop as a writer while a Trainee News Writer at Future.