Kieran McKenna has edged ahead of Roberto De Zerbi in the running for the Chelsea job after Mauricio Pochettino’s shock departure from Chelsea on Tuesday night.
The former Spurs and PSG boss had guided Chelsea to a sixth-placed finish, claiming the fourth most points of any club outside Manchester City, Arsenal and Liverpool in 2024, but finds himself out of work after mutually parting ways.
De Zerbi was immediately installed as favourite after leaving Brighton prior to the end of the season, but Ipswich’s McKenna, Leicester’s Enzo Maresca and Thomas Frank of Brentford are all thought to be in the running for the job.
Former manager Thomas Tuchel is another name linked to the Stamford Bridge role with his exit from Bayern Munich set to be confirmed this summer.
Next Chelsea Manager Odds
Here are the current favourites for the Chelsea manager’s job:
- Kieran McKenna - 11/8
- Roberto De Zerbi - 5/2
- Enzo Maresca - 4/1
- Ruben Amorim - 8/1
- Thomas Frank - 8/1
All odds correct from BetVictor as of May 22, 11am
Potential Next Chelsea Managers
Roberto De Zerbi
It would undoubtedly be a big step up for De Zerbi, who impressed in his two-year stay at Brighton. He has earned plaudits for an energetic and entertaining style of play, something that would fit in well in Bavaria while his development of players with the Seagulls has also proved his coaching ability.
Doubts remain over his ability to coach at the very highest level, with Brighton 11th this season after such an impressive campaign last year while they did well to qualify from the groups in the Europa League only to be heavily beaten by Roma in the round of 16.
It was no surprise to see him exit the Amex at the end of the season having taken the club as far as he could, and a step up to one of the biggest club’s in the country and out of a well-run place such as Brighton into the chaos of Todd Boehly’s regime could be a big ask.
Kieran McKenna
Kieran McKenna is the current favourite to be named next Brighton manager. The 38-year-old is the fastest-rising managerial star in English football right now after an excellent debut season with Ipswich Town.
McKenna took charge of the Tractor Boys last summer following their promotion from League One, with most simply expecting the goal to be survival. However, Ipswich went on to finish 2nd in the Championship with 96 points, meaning they will be plying their trade in the Premier League next term.
Had Ipswich missed out on promotion, it may have been easier to convince McKenna to leave, whereas now he may wish to stick it out with his current club and give Premier League survival a go.
Enzo Maresca
What looked like being a record-breaking season for Leicester after their stunning start, turned into something of a sorry limp over the line and things turning fairly sour for Maresca in his first year in charge.
Despite dominating the Championship in his first season as a manager in England, fans were not impressed with the slow build-up from Maresca’s side, the lack of impact in the transfer window and some of his conduct on the sidelines.
It was only his second stab at management having moved from Manchester City’s under-23 team to Parma for an ill-fated 14-game spell before returning to be Pep Guardiola’s assistant. The attraction for Chelsea is undoubtedly looking for a ‘Pep-lite’ as Arsenal did with Mikel Arteta, and it could come at a perfect time for Maresca with Leicester set to be handed a points deduction for next season, making his job nigh-on impossible to keep them up.
Ruben Amorim
It wasn’t so long ago that Amorim was considered a shoo-in to replace Jurgen Klopp at Liverpool, having been regularly tipped to move on to the Premier League from Sporting Lisbon.
That quickly got shut down before links to West Ham also surfaced before failing to turn into anything concrete, but he continues to achieve with Sporting winning Liga Portugal by 10 points - a second league title since he joined the club in 2020, some achievement in a league dominated by Benfica and Porto.
He has done it with an entertaining, attack-minded style of play. At just 39, Amorim clearly has time on his side and if he can replicate his success at Sporting in another league, he will place himself among Europe’s elite coaches but is he likely to fit into Boehly’s image of what Chelsea should be?
Thomas Frank
Frank is another name who has been linked - albeit very briefly - with the Bayern job, and for a few years now people have asked why he hasn’t had more opportunity to try his hand at a bigger job.
One of the issues could be his ambition. He has already stated that he is loving his role at Brentford and would like to stay for the foreseeable future, but it cannot be denied that he has done a brilliant job in recruiting smartly and also keeping a club the size of Brentford afloat in the Premier League.
This one looks a bit of a longshot if we are honest, as he doesn’t appear keen to jump ship but Chelsea feels like it could be the right sort of fit for him.
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