Town boss Kieran McKenna is one of Chelsea’s top targets as they look to replace Mauricio Pochettino, who left by mutual consent earlier this week.
TWTD understands Leicester’s Enzo Maresca heads the Stamford Bridge club’s wishlist but with McKenna, currently the favourite with most bookies, also a very serious contender.
Ex-Brighton boss Roberto de Zerbi is joint-favourite alongside McKenna with some bookmakers.
Former Hull City boss Liam Rosenior is perhaps surprisingly another of those who is viewed as a potential successor to Pochettino, while Stuttgart manager Sebastian Hoeness, Sporting Lisbon’s Ruben Amorim and Girona’s Michel have also been linked.
Chelsea are understood to want to make their appointment quickly, while the less than smooth manner in which the club has been run in latter years will presumably give any of the candidates pause for thought before accepting the role.
Town meanwhile, are determined to do everything they can to keep McKenna at Portman Road with a new contract offer seeming inevitable, although with claims of a lucrative deal already being on the table believed to be premature.
Claims that McKenna is dead set on moving on from Town this summer appear similarly speculative.
Of the clubs understood to be interested in prising McKenna from Town following the Blues’ back-to-back promotions, Chelsea are believed to be the one most favoured by his representatives due to existing relationships between the two.
Early frontrunner Brighton’s move for the Northern Irishman seems to be on the back burner at the present time, while Francesco Farioli, recommended to the Seagulls by the exiting De Zerbi, is now widely reported to be joining Ajax from Nice.
The situation at Manchester United, also thought to have their former first-team coach on a list of potential next bosses, is likely to become clearer following Saturday’s FA Cup final with Erik ten Hag’s future in the balance.
Taking the rumour mill full circle, Pochettino has been linked with the Old Trafford job should Ten Hag depart.