Julian Nagelsmann drops out, Chelsea warming to Mauricio Pochettino — reports

Julian Nagelsmann has dropped out of consideration to become the next Chelsea manager, which now means that both of the early front-runners, Nagelsmann and Luis Enrique are now out. Nagelsmann’s decision, first reported by Fabrizio Romano and then confirmed by the Telegraph’s Matt Law, has vaulted Mauricio Pochettino to the top of the list.

Chelsea apparently held talks with Poch back in the summer already, not long after he was let go at PSG, and things have gone “very positively” over the last few days. It sounds like he might indeed be our guy.

Given Nagelsmann’s connections with some of the Chelsea hierarchy, it’s somewhat surprising that he’s decided to withdraw, though apparently we weren’t fully convinced by the former Bayern coach either. Pochettino evidently ticks more of our boxes, despite his Spurs connections — which mean that he would likely get pretty short shrift from the supporters and would have to get us back to winning right away. He did win three trophies in 18 months in Paris.

While it looks likely at the moment that the 51-year-old ends up becoming our next head coach, Chelsea have also held talks recently with Vincent Kompany, who’s done wonderfully at Burnley, and there’s still another mystery candidate on the list as well (Marcelo Gallardo?).