Chelsea identify ‘strong candidate’ to replace Pochettino as Boehly ‘awaits’ Conte ‘response’
According to reports, Hansi Flick has emerged as a ‘strong candidate’ to replace Mauricio Pochettino at Chelsea this summer.
Pochettino is nearing the end of his first season at Chelsea and he has found life difficult at Stamford Bridge.
The Blues are in a transitionary phase after investing over £1bn on signings to overhaul their squad and they have been very inconsistent this season.
The former Tottenham Hotspur head coach is working with an inexperienced squad, who have let him down on numerous occasions.
Chelsea earned a win over Spurs in midweek, though. The Blues are currently eighth in the Premier League and three points adrift of sixth-placed Manchester United with four games to go.
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Pochettino has been under pressure for much of this season and it was claimed earlier this week that Chelsea chairman Todd Boehly has held a ‘fruitful summit’ with ex-Blues boss Antonio Conte.
The Italian has been out of work since leaving Spurs last season but he is being heavily linked with Serie A giants Napoli.
Repubblica claim ‘Boehly has Conte in his head and awaits a definitive response in the coming weeks’ and that ‘Chelsea will do everything to convince him to accept, with a very important offer at an economic level and an ambitious project in the buying campaign’.
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But according to German journalist Christian Falk, Hansi Flick is “now a strong contender for the Chelsea job”.
The former Bayern Munich and Germany boss has been without a club since September 2023 but he is being linked with clubs around Europe ahead of next season.
Falk claims he “would love to manage in the Premier League”.
“Hansi Flick is now a strong candidate for the Chelsea job,” Christian Falk told CaughtOffside in his Fact Files column.
The BILD journalist added: “Flick would love to manage in the Premier League and is looking at the big six. He was talking with Tottenham before he was coaching the national team. This would be a club on his level.
“Chelsea is very interesting as he talked with the club after Frank Lampard was sacked; there was a telephone call between him and former director Marina Granovskaia. At this point, he was the treble-winning coach for Bayern (from the 2019/20 season) and he said no when the talks took place, in 2021, at the time because he was at the club. But he was interested in Chelsea.
“Now that they’re searching for another manager, and they know he’s interested, I think this topic can get hot.”
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