Pep Guardiola
The current Bayern manager is the most talked about potential manager for every big job opening in the world. He’s been strongly linked with Premier League jobs at Manchester City and (less so) at Manchester United, but if the Chelsea job opens up it may well rocket to the top of Guardiola’s list.
Aside from the obvious attractive quality of the resources available at Stamford Bridge, Guardiola would likely be attracted to the opening by the amount of talent that Chelsea owns. I’m speaking not just of players currently with their first-team, but also the hordes of young talent Chelsea have on loan throughout the world.
Guardiola will be searching for a true project as opposed to just a job where he can piece a title-winning team together. He’s done that plenty of times in his career. If he’s going to be motivated in a new job he’ll be trying to build the best system in the world; not just the best team.
Chelsea’s willingness to spend big money and develop them through high-profile loans will surely catch Guardiola’s eye. He’d be given significant influence in player purchases and could operate their loan players almost like a series of youth squads. Guardiola’s long-term vision could make Chelsea’s player acquisition system truly frightening.
Chelsea might even be more motivated to cut ties with Mourinho if they feel they can land a manager like Guardiola. You can bet there are already back-channel discussions taking place. Unfortunately for the Blues, Guardiola has been exceedingly tight-lipped about his future plans. His unwillingness to make a quick decision may prohibit him from being the next Chelsea manager.
Next: Brendan Rodgers