Chelsea’s list of managerial options seems to be growing by the day, with Crystal Palace boss Oliver Glasner under consideration, and a left-field Croatian manager also on the list.
Just this week, Chelsea legend Joe Cole described Glasner as a “good shout” to take over at Stamford Bridge in the summer. Glasner is due to leave Palace this summer and has been linked with big clubs.
As things stand, the priorities for Chelsea are threefold. Talks have started with Andoni Iraola’s agents, while negotiations have also been planned between Chelsea and both Marco Silva and Xabi Alonso.
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Glasner has earned plenty of credit at Palace, having won the FA Cup and the Community Shield in the last 12 months. Palace remain in with a shout of winning the Conference League, too. He’s on the list.
Oliver Glasner’s stance on Chelsea and Niko Kovac considered
Glasner is on the list, but according to Si Phillips on his Substack channel, the German is not high up on the shortlist. That is because of his stance on a move to Chelsea, with Glasner unsure of the set-up.
This is going to be a common theme Chelsea find in their hunt for a new manager. Most are going to have reservations about working with five sporting directors, as well as Todd Boehly and Behdad Eghbali.
Phillips also claims that former Bayern Munich manager Niko Kovac is on Chelsea’s list. Kovac has been in charge of Dortmund since February 2025, winning 41 of his 70 games in charge of the German side.
According to Phillips, Kovac has long been considered by Chelsea and was looked at as a replacement for Enzo Maresca before Chelsea handed the reins to Liam Rosenior. But like Glasner, he’s not near the top.
Chelsea need to change their set-up or lose out on key targets
Glasner’s stance is very fair. Any manager worth their salt is going to be uneasy at the thought of working with five sporting directors. Then, having to deal with the scattergun approach Boehly has adopted.
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Not only that, but Boehly and Eghbali’s willingness to press the trigger on sacking a manager is hardly going to give an incoming manager the confidence that he will be given the time to be successful.
Eghbali gave Rosenior a vote of confidence, and then three days later, he was sacked. Why would any manager want to come into that situation? Maresca’s sacking showed if a manager bites back, they leave.
Chelsea need to change their set-up and promise an incoming manager that any involvement upstairs will be less considerable than it has been in the past. Otherwise, they will miss out on managerial targets.
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