Journalist Simon Phillips has claimed that Julian Nagelsmann is Chelsea’s number one candidate for the permanent manager’s job.
He told GiveMeSport that the club would prefer to wait until the summer to hire the German than rushing in with a candidate like Luis Enrique right now.
The timing of Graham Potter’s sacking at Stamford Bridge certainly played into potentially having something to do with Nagelsmann being relieved of his duties at Bayern Munich.
With the young boss expected by many to want to wait until the end of the season before returning to management, it appears that could be the message he has sent Chelsea.
Frank Lampard has been named temporary manager for now, with his first game at the weekend being a 1-0 loss to Wolves.
No matter what the former player or coach achieves this season, he is expected to move on in favour of a different permanent coach.
Nagelsmann the preferred candidate
Phillips has claimed that Nagelsmann is the candidate who has caught the eye the most up to now.
He said: “Enrique was always seen as more of a backup to Nagelsmann and it seems that Chelsea will prefer to wait it out on him at the moment, rather than go straight in with Enrique.
“That doesn’t mean to say that Chelsea won’t turn to Enrique down the line. He’s still a very strong candidate for the Chelsea role on a permanent basis this summer.
“But right now Chelsea have been trying to get Nagelsmann and when they saw they can’t get him, they’ve gone to Lampard. Enrique certainly had a strong interview, so I wouldn’t be surprised if Chelsea do decide to go for him in the summer.”
Supporters will just be hoping that things don’t go the way they did the last time the Blues hired an inexperienced coach for the role – earlier this season.
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