Maresca emerges as clear choice to replace sacked Pochettino at Chelsea

Chelsea have confirmed the departure of Mauricio Pochettino after a single season in charge. But who will replace him? Who would be stupid and/or desperate enough to willingly work for the Todd Boehly Circus? Probably quite a few people, sadly.

Anyway. We have the latest next Chelsea manager favourites, according to Oddschecker.

10) Sergio Conceicao
‘Super-agent Jorge Mendes has put Porto boss Sergio Conceicao’s name forward as a potential replacement for Mauricio Pochettino,’ it says in the Mirror.

After seven seasons with Porto, Conceicao might well fancy a change. And Chelsea really do like a Portugeezer. But is he that much younger than Pochettino to necessitate a change?

9) Cesc Fabregas
If Chelsea want to follow the Bayer Leverkusen model, then appointing a rookie manager who was a silky midfielder might well be the answer. And at 37, there is an assumption that Fabregas would be more inclined than most to be a company man and work with what he is given. And he would presumably start the season with the goodwill of the fans. And he has to be better than Frank Lampard, right?

8) Sebastian Hoeness
Has done an outstanding job at Stuttgart, toppling Bayern Munich to finish second in the Bundesliga this season. He took them over in a similar state as Xabi Alonso did at Bayer Leverkusen and has done a job almost as impressive.

The 42-year-old is in his third job after managing Bayern’s second team and Hoffenheim.

READ NEXT: The top 10 best available managers right now

7) Xavi
After declaring on January 27 he would leave Barcelona in the summer, Xavi made a U-turn and stated his intention to stay on April 24. Then on May 24 he was sacked. And there is no indication he would be in any way a good Chelsea manager, yet here he is. To be fair, we can understand a few people chucking a few speculative quid at a suddenly available manager at fancy prices, but that moment has now passed.

6) Kieran McKenna
Wanted by Brighton following the departure of Roberto De Zerbi but is also on Manchester United’s radar after back-to-back promotions with Ipswich Town. The highly-rated 38-year-old fits the bill as the young, talented coach Chelsea are craving to guide their youthful squad and having made the leap from Ipswich would be unlikely to question his superiors, which we know they hate. But good grief, it’s some leap.

5) Ruben Amorim
Heavily linked with Spurs pre-Ange and seemed all set for Liverpool post-Klopp. But Chelsea have always been keen and now have a clearer run than may otherwise been expected. Nothing we have seen of Amorim suggests he is an idiot, though, and Chelsea do appear to want that in their new manager.

4) Jose Mourinho
The Chelsea owners’ search for a young, progressive, upwardly mobile coach has bafflingly led a hell of a lot of people to pile money on an old, regressive coach who’s been stuck in his ways since he last won a league title, in his second stint with the club nine years ago. He is in more ways than one the wildcard in this market, both a conspicuous outlier in profile and also dividing opinion among the layers with some making him second-favourite and others having absolutely none of it.

3) Thomas Frank
Again, there’s lots to like about the idea of a manager with a proven record of bringing players through and improving them getting a chance to work with this talented if hotch-potch Chelsea squad. But again, if you’re a manager at a sensible club where your life is as serene as a Premier League manager’s ever can be, do you really want to jack it all in for a bigger club when that bigger club is run by f*ckwits? It’s a question a lot of managers may find themselves pondering over the coming days.

2) Roberto De Zerbi
Why break the Brighton habit? Well, maybe because it’s proven to be a far from successful one thus far. Graham Potter was sacked, Marc Cucurella was the worst signing of 2022, Caicedo was the worst signing of 2023 and Robert Sanchez can’t get a game over a slightly less mediocre goalkeeper.

He’s managed to remain on the ‘next manager’ lists of Manchester United, Bayern Munich as well as Chelsea despite an inauspicious 2023/24 compared to his outstanding debut campaign.

1) Enzo Maresca
Did impressive enough work in steering Leicester straight back up, but that was a team that had no business going down in the first place. Is that really enough to suggest you’re a better bet for a top club than Mauricio Pochettino? Apparently the answer, at least according to Clearlake, is yes. We’re not saying he’s a bad manager, but this just all feels very underwhelming and just so absurdly self-inflicted. Which is becoming a theme at Chelsea these days.

More: Chelsea news | Mauricio Pochettino