Graham Potter is now firmly odds on to replace Thomas Tuchel as the next Chelsea manager, with Mauricio Pochettino drifting as second favourite.
With Chelsea only able to keep one clean sheet this season, new owner Todd Boehly has made the decision to sack Thomas Tuchel after just 20 months in charge. So, who might replace him?
Despite a summer transfer window in which Chelsea spent the most a Premier League team have ever spent in one window, the Blues appear to be in a rut now. They lost to Leeds, Southampton and Dinamo Zagreb within the space of 17 days, a rather alarming sign that showed things were not improving despite the reinforcements.
The latest defeat in Croatia against a team Chelsea should’ve really dominated threw big question marks at the manager and players. The result was bad, but the performance was the most damaging aspect, as Chelsea fans were livid by some of their players attitude towards Dinamo, hence why the decision was made for Tuchel to left.
The day before the Dinamo Zagreb game, Tuchel was priced as long as 14/1 by some bookmakers to be the next Premier League manager out the door. So, it comes as a huge surprise, despite the drab showing in Zagreb, that he has beaten Brendan Rodgers to the exit.
With a tough run of games coming up, including an away trip to in-form Fulham at Craven Cottage, a home UCL tie against RB Salzburg and Liverpool, Chelsea fans will be hoping the new manager can hit the ground running before the international break kicks in.
They do currently sit 6th at the moment, and only five points of the current leaders Arsenal, which is not a total disaster, but Boehly was not keen to wait around should their slump continue.
Who are the frontrunners to replace Tuchel?
Mauricio Pochettino:
The early market leader was Mauricio Pochettino, who has been out of a job after leaving Paris Saint Germain last July and has been routinely linked with a return to the Premier League, where he managed for six years at Southampton and Tottenham. He progressed both sides much further than people had first thought, including taking the Saints to their highest Premier League points tally since the league’s inception.
He also took Spurs from a disappointing 6th place in 2013/14 to a League Cup final in his first season, and a Champions League final in 2019, while Spurs were runners up in the Premier League to Chelsea in 2016/17. He is the 5/1 second favourite to become the next permanent Chelsea manager.
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Graham Potter
The top two in the market quickly flipped in favour of Graham Potter, whose Brighton side have had a fantastic start to this season and are currently above Chelsea in 4th place. The Seagulls manager is now the 8/15 favourite (1/5 in several places) to become Chelsea’s next permanent boss.
Potter has been linked with managing a ‘big’ club ever since he arrived in England in 2019, after taking Ostersund from the fourth tier in Sweden to the top flight, as well as taking them into the UEFA Europa League, a remarkable rise in such a short space of time.
Zinedine Zidane
The only manager to win the Champions League three consecutive times, Zidane is now priced at 16/1 to take the Chelsea job. He has previously stated he wouldn’t take a job in England, purely because of his inability to speak English fluently, so might he be one to avoid?
He has also stated that he would like to manage the French national team, which may be inspired by his mistake which cost his place in the 2006 World Cup final, which many will remember where he headbutted Marco Materazzi, as Italy went on to claim the prestigious tournament.
And what about the outsiders?
Diego Simeone (best price 33/1) is the longest-serving manager in La Liga, having stayed over a decade at Atlético. Is the 52-year-old ready for a new challenge in the Premier League? The two-time league title winner in Spain might feel he has a better chance of landing an elusive Champions League title with Chelsea having fallen at the final hurdle with Atletico in both 2013/14 and 2015/16.
Meanwhile, Gareth Southgate is one of the biggest drifters in the market (now 100/1 from 33/1 when the market opened), since the timing doesn't feel right given his obvious focus on England's World Cup chances in Qatar combined with the need for the Blues to move quickly to settle the ship.
Of the other English based candidates, Thomas Frank (best price 50/1 but 22/1 in places) would appear to be a better fit. The Brentford manager's stock has never been higher having already overseen a 4-0 win over Manchester United and a 5-2 hammering of Leeds this season. The 48-year-old has also been praised for his style of football since taking the Bees up from the Championship in 2020/21.
