Chelsea chiefs are reportedly split over potentially hiring Brighton manager Roberto De Zerbi to replace Mauricio Pochettino, according to Simon Phillips.
The Blues have not had the best season under Pochettino, even if the ownership of Todd Boehly and Behdad Eghbali has focused a lot on a long-term project built around talented young players.
Still, Chelsea fans will be impatient as they watch their side struggle in mid-table, with little sign that Pochettino is winning these players around to his ideas, similarly to Graham Potter last season.
De Zerbi could make sense as an upgrade after his superb work in his time in charge at Brighton, but then Potter also did well with the Seagulls before being poached by CFC, and that ended pretty terribly.
De Zerbi not the only name on Chelsea’s list
It seems some on Chelsea’s board would welcome De Zerbi, but not everyone is convinced, and it’s therefore not too surprising to see the west London giants also being linked with the likes of Eddie Howe and Thomas Frank.
It will be interesting to see if De Zerbi ends up being the favourite, but the Italian tactician will also surely have other tempting offers this summer.
In many ways, De Zerbi would probably rather some of the other clubs likely to be on the lookout for new managers, such as Barcelona and Bayern Munich, as Chelsea are just not the force they once were.
Even if the Blues have plenty of promising young players like Enzo Fernandez, Moises Caicedo, Mykhailo Mudryk, Cole Palmer and Levi Colwill, De Zerbi might prefer the prospect of moving with teams who are more ready to achieve success quickly.
De Zerbi has shown his credentials as a long-term project manager at Brighton, but he has perhaps now earned the chance to try moving to a higher level now.