Mauricio Pochettino has stunned Chelsea fans by leaving the club by mutual consent, two days after the end of his first season.
Pochettino looked to have steadied Chelsea following what was a difficult start to life at Stamford Bridge, guiding the Blues to European qualification by winning his final five games of the season.
“Chelsea FC can confirm that the Club and Mauricio Pochettino have mutually agreed to part way,” a statement on Tuesday evening said.
Chelsea sporting directors Laurence Stewart and Paul Winstanley, who held talks with Pochettino following the end of the season, will now lead the search for a new manager.
It will be the fourth permanent manager in two seasons under the new ownership group, following Thomas Tuchel, Graham Potter and Pochettino, who had signed a two-year deal last summer.
Kieran McKenna
The 38-year-old will be the favourite after taking Ipswich Town from League One to the Premier League in two seasons. The former Manchester United assistant is seen as one of the most promising young coaches in the game.
Enzo Maresca
Another highly-rated young coach who has just secured promotion to the Premier League, the former assistant to Pep Guardiola at Manchester City worked wonders in his first season at Leicester, winning the Championship and securing a return to the top-flight at the first attempt.
Thomas Tuchel
A legend at Stamford Bridge after winning the club’s second Champions League in 2022, before he was sacked by the new ownership group a little more than a year later. The German is available after leaving Bayern Munich. This would be crazy, but it’s Chelsea…
Roberto De Zerbi
He’s available. The Italian made a brilliant impact at Brighton, but results tailed off over the second half of this season before a sudden announcement that he would leave the Seagulls. De Zerbi had been linked with Bayern Munich and Juventus, even before leaving Brighton. Chelsea are admirers of Brighton’s model and previously poached Potter.
Ruben Amorim
The Sporting manager is admired around Europe and has been linked with a number of top clubs this season, including Liverpool, Barcelona and Bayern Munich. He’s just led Sporting to the Portuguese title and Chelsea reportedly held talks with the 39-year-old a couple of months ago. He seems committed to Sporting, but Chelsea could change his mind.
Sebastian Hoeness
The 42-year-old German has transformed Stuttgart and has just led the club to a second-place finish in the Bundesliga, above Bayern Munich. It’s marked Hoeness out as one to watch.
