New favourites emerge in Chelsea’s search to replace Mauricio Pochettino

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Andrew Feinberg

White House Correspondent

Enzo Maresca and Roberto De Zerbi have emerged as the two main choices for next Chelsea manager, with different factions of the leadership making the case for either manager. While the club’s football hierarchy are understood to favour Maresca, who has just won the Championship with Leicester City, co-owner Behdad Eghbali has been struck by De Zerbi’s personality.

Ipswich Town manager Kieran McKenna is greatly admired but, just like at Manchester United, there are some concerns over whether he is quite ready to make this extent of a leap given the greater pressure of one of the Premier League’s biggest clubs.

There is also the fact that Chelsea are still finalising their own structure, and it would be seen as better for someone like McKenna to come into something that is ready made. It’s for that reason some in the technical hierarchy believe Maresca is a better fit, since he would purely be coming in as a head coach. De Zerbi is viewed as a more prickly and abrasive character, which is one reason why Brighton were ultimately willing to so readily agree to his departure. The current Chelsea football leadership, of course, is made up of former Brighton appointments.

There is still huge admiration for what he did at the south-coast club last season, though, especially with how he appears to represent an evolution in how the game is actually played. This is one aspect the Chelsea ownership are keen to be ahead of, as they look to try and build a team for the future.

Brentford’s Thomas Frank has been considered, but is right now seen behind both Maresca and De Zerbi by some distance.