ONLY 466 days separate the night Thomas Tuchel lead Chelsea to Champions League glory against Manchester City at the Estadio Dragao in Porto and the German manager being relieved of his Stamford Bridge duties after 1-0 defeat to Dinamo Zagreb in the group stage of the same competition.
The timing of Tuchel’s dismissal came as a shock to many – he had been handed a squad refreshed with more than £200m worth of new signings this summer and it was presumed, despite Chelsea’s indifferent form for much of 2022, that he’d be given time to get a tune from it.
There had been a feeling the Blues’ higher-ups might want their own man in the dugout before long, though, and it has been reported that they’d already made up their mind that Tuchel was yesterday’s man before the Zagreb loss.
But who will new owner Todd Boehly turn to in his search for a new custodian of Chelsea’s expensively assembled side? Here are three options.
Graham Potter
Brighton boss Graham Potter is reportedly among the leading candidates to replace Tuchel at Stamford Bridge and it’s easy to see why.
The Solihull-born former left-back has taken an unconventional route to top-level management, having begun coaching at Hull University, before taking on roles with the Ghanaian women’s national team and Leeds Metropolitan University.
He travelled to Sweden for his first experience managing in professional men’s football, where he impressed in seven and a half years with Ostersunds, taking the unfancied provincial side from the fourth tier to the top flight and Europa League football.
✅ Jurgen Klopp
✅ Pep Guardiola
✅ Jose Mourinho
✅ Arsene Wenger
✅ Rafa Benitez
✅ Erik ten Hag😎 Graham Potter already has wins over some big coaches pic.twitter.com/veKoo2hSmH
— WhoScored.com (@WhoScored) September 7, 2022
A brief stop at Swansea City saw Potter take the recently relegated side to the quarter-finals of the FA Cup and a mid-table Championship finish. His year at the Liberty Stadium was enough to earn call from Brighton to replace Chris Hughton in 2019.
Potter’s fine work in East Sussex has garnered rave reviews and taken the 47-year-old to the top of speculative “next manager” lists any time a vacancy is anticipated at one of the Premier League’s biggest clubs.
Despite a modest budget and being faced with losing his best players on a regular basis – as was the case with Marc Cucurella’s £62m sale to Chelsea this summer – Potter has consolidated Brighton’s top-flight status while improving the players at his command and producing some of the division’s most attractive football.
Potter is already well versed in the 3-4-3 set-up for which Chelsea’s squad has been assembled, having used a similar approach in much of his time with Brighton. A move to Chelsea would surely appeal on several levels, too – it would present little geographical upheaval for his family; he would be given the chance to test his methods working with top-level internationals and with a transfer budget to dwarf anything he has previously seen; and he has arguably reached the zenith of what is possible for his Brighton side, given the comparative budgetary constraints.
The one concern for Potter, however, would be around whether he fears Chelsea’s typical impatience with managers would see him not given the requisite time to implement his tactical style and to gradually develop players through his work on the training pitch.
Mauricio Pochettino
Most recently overlooked in favour of Erik ten Hag in the running for the Manchester United job, Mauricio Pochettino remains available after leaving Paris Saint-Germain at the end of last season.
The Argentinian tactician endured a miserable time in the French capital, where, coincidentally, he replaced Tuchel in January 2021. He was unable to prevent PSG losing the Ligue 1 title to Lille in his first half-season at the Parc des Princes and there was generally a feeling that he was never able to make a squad resplendent with the likes of Kylian Mbappe, Neymar and Lionel Messi equal to the sum of its parts.
But he did manage to end his managerial trophy drought while in charge of the star-studded Parisians, claiming last season’s league championship and the Coupe de France the previous term.
Mauricio Pochettino in tears. One of the greatest comebacks away from home in a semi-final of the Champions League. Take a bow. pic.twitter.com/oOwBAjhAxB
— Matt Lynch (@mattlyynch) May 8, 2019
A return to England, where he enjoyed five seasons in which he crafted an attractive and ambitious young Tottenham side, has seemed the most likely next step for Pochettino since departing PSG. A move back to London with Chelsea, where he would look to install the discipline, dynamic pressing and sharp attacking football that worked so well for him at Spurs, would be an obvious fit for all parties.
Zinedine Zidane
If Chelsea’s new owners would like to make a statement with their appointment of Tuchel’s successor as they have this summer in the transfer market, names in the football world don’t come much bigger than Zinedine Zidane.
The three-time World Player of the Year and 1998 World Cup winner is a rare example of a truly great player forging a managerial career almost as success-laden as his playing days. Across two spells at the helm of Real Madrid, the Frenchman won two La Liga titles and three Champions League crowns.
Zidane proved to be tactically malleable in his time in the Bernabeu dugout, never wedded to one particular style of play or formation and comfortable adapting his approach to the players under his command.
His greatest asset was his ability to juggle the egos of a star-crammed dressing room. The cache of having been one of the greatest players of all time earned him instant respectability and authority.
Quick stat: Xavi has lost his 7th game as a manager for Barcelona.
When Zidane lost his 7th game as the Real Madrid manager, he had already won 8 trophies for the club. pic.twitter.com/qFLMLou7PX
— 9. (@GreatWhiteNueve) April 24, 2022
Whether Zidane would be interested in the Chelsea job is anyone’s guess. The 50-year-old has given few indications of his future plans, and he appears to be taking a very selective approach to managerial career, having this far only ever managed one club and having shunned all offers of employment since leaving Madrid more than a year ago.
