:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/48650419/GettyImages-499114640.0.jpg)
The January transfer window belongs to the players, but the rumors that will have far greater impact on Chelsea's near-term future are of the managerial kind. Especially since it looks like the biggest move we will be making is signing a player five years past his prime (and selling Ramires, which, while emotionally impactful, probably won't have much on an effect on the rest of the season).
Unfortunately, there's every chance that any managerial appointment we make will be similarly underwhelming. Pep Guardiola looks to be headed for either the blue or the red half of Manchester, Diego Simeone looks set to stay with Atlético, Carlo Ancelotti already picked his new assignment. That leaves the likes of Manuel Pellegrini, Jorge Sampaoli, Ronald Koeman, Juande Ramos, (and Ranieri ad Howe and Hughes and Hiddink, according to The Telegraph), and...
MAURICIO POCHETTINO
In what surely is a bit of trolling from Rory Smith of The Times, the Spurs manager has apparently been added to our shortlist, for whatever that's worth, which is probably not much. Pochettino has been steadily enhancing his reputation with a stylish, yet young Spurs side, and the idea that he could take over Chelsea and "give youth a chance" is sure to entice. But the idea that Daniel Levy would let Pochettino go, for anything less than all the gold in the Urca de Lima, is fairly ludicrous.
MAX ALLEGRI
The Juventus manager's name keeps popping up, and he keeps putting it back down.
"At this moment there are other things to think about. I have a contract until June 2017, I am happy at Juventus."
-Massimiliano Allegri; source: BWRAO
Perhaps a more realistic Italian option would be Antonio Conte, whose contract with the Italian national team is currently set to end after Euro 2016.
DIDIER DESCHAMPS
In an alternate universe, it's perhaps Didier Deschamps who gets picked by Abramovich for the Chelsea job in 2004 instead of Jose Mourinho. But in this universe, Deschamps and Monaco lost to Porto and Mourinho in that fateful Champions League final, and so the job went to The Special One. But the former Chelsea midfielder has now been linked with a return to SW6 in a managerial capacity, though his contract with the French national team doesn't expire until 2018.
Maybe we should just hire Mourinho back?