Ranking the Candidates to Replace Jose Mourinho at Chelsea
Chelsea parted ways with manager Jose Mourinho on Thursday by "mutual consent," according to a statement released on the club's official website.
The decision ended months of speculation over Mourinho's future, with the Portuguese manager constantly under pressure following a poor start to the season. But just because Mourinho is gone, that doesn't mean the guessing games will end. Now comes the search for Mourinho's replacement.
Here, Bleacher Report ranks the top five candidates to replace Mourinho at Chelsea right now. Those last two words are key. Chelsea could very well go for candidates like Pep Guardiola or Diego Simeone, but such moves almost certainly won't happen until the summer.
So for our slideshow, we've ranked only the candidates who appear likely to take the job in the immediate future. The rankings are based on how likely each man is to get the job.
How did we do? Let us know in the comments.
Explaining Some Missing Names
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Various reports have linked Chelsea with several more names that don't appear in our list. Why is that?
Well, we have a few reasons.
Bayern Munich manager Pep Guardiola is in the final year of his contract and will soon announce his future plans. The former Barcelona boss is expected to leave Germany following the season, according to Kicker (h/t the Guardian's Ed Aarons), with Manchester City, Manchester United and Chelsea among his possible destinations.
But whether or not he decides to leave, Guardiola isn't going anywhere until the end of the season. As noted in the introduction, we're only considering immediate candidates.
That means we've also left out Atletico Madrid manager Diego Simeone, a long-term target for Chelsea next summer, according to Matt Law and Jason Burt at the Daily Telegraph.
Finally, we've also omitted Carlo Ancelotti, who is unwilling to be a temporary manager, according to another Telegraph report filed by Law.
5. Brendan Rodgers
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Brendan Rodgers is currently out of work after being sacked by Liverpool earlier this season. The Northern Irishman has Chelsea connections, having worked under Jose Mourinho during Mourinho's first spell with the club.
Most importantly for our purposes, he's also being touted as a possible replacement for Mourinho, with ESPN FC's Miguel Delaney and the Daily Mirror's Liam Prenderville and Liam Corless among the sources listing him as a candidate.
While it's true that Rodgers came close to winning the title with Liverpool in 2013-14, his brand has been damaged by his dismissal at Anfield following a poor run.
Rodgers will surely return to management sooner than later, but it's hard to imagine Chelsea taking on a manager who failed so recently with a rival Premier League club.
4. Antonio Conte
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Antonio Conte is the current manager of Italy and formerly the top man at Juventus. He's also, according to the Independent's Jack de Menezes, Chelsea's "preferred target" to replace Mourinho.
But what of his coaching duties with Italy? Surely, with UEFA Euro 2016 approaching, he wouldn't leave the Azzurri now? Not so, according to the aforementioned report, which claims Conte could combine duties.
Honestly, though—can you imagine Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich agreeing to such an arrangement?
3. Juande Ramos
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Juande Ramos is a name Premier League fans should remember—and one they might get reacquainted with soon.
The Spaniard has a long coaching CV that includes a brief stint with Tottenham Hotspur, in 2007-08. According to Matt Hughes at the Times, Ramos is a "shock candidate" to lead the club in an interim role until the end of the season.
Ramos has loads of experience, having coached at Real Madrid, CSKA Moscow and Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk among many others. But as WhoScored.com's Jenny Brown hinted on Twitter, his record doesn't seem good enough for a club with Chelsea's ambitions.
"The same Juande Ramos who won 10 of his 36 PL games (28%) …. riiiiggght," Brown tweeted.
We agree with Brown. This feels like an awkward fit, though anything is possible if Chelsea are only looking for a short-term fix.
2. Fabio Capello
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Fabio Capello is a vastly experienced manager with some of the biggest names from club and international football on his resume. One can easily see Capello juggling the egos in both the dressing room and manager's suite at Stamford Bridge.
After parting ways with the Russian national team over the summer, the Italian said of his job prospects, per the Daily Mirror's Prenderville and Corless: "For now I have not received anything but if something interesting comes up, why not?"
That would seem to imply Capello is open to a job like Chelsea's, which would no doubt be "interesting." But while Capello knows the English game from his time managing the England national team, some Chelsea players might be put off by his demanding methods in training.
1. Guus Hiddink
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Chelsea supporters know Guus Hiddink well. Owner Roman Abramovich brought in the Dutch manager in early 2009 to pick up the pieces from Luiz Felipe Scolari's reign.
Hiddink left Chelsea at the end of that season, ending a brief spell in London. But it was a successful one, with the Blues lifting the FA Cup at Wembley in May.
Even before Mourinho's departure, Hiddink's name featured heavily in reports about Chelsea's immediate options. According to Matt Law and Jason Burt at the Daily Telegraph, the 69-year-old is a leading contender for the job—again in a temporary role.
Law and Burt write:
"Hiddink is not the only short-term option under consideration and a decision over the Dutchman has not been finalised, but the 69-year-old is emerging as the leading candidate to take the job until the end of this campaign.
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Replacing Mourinho with Hiddink or another out-of-work manager on a short-term deal would allow Chelsea to start work on trying to convince Simeone to agree to take the full-time job next summer.
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All of that is true, but it's also fair to point out that Hiddink failed in his most recent job, with the Netherlands national team. Would that failure dissuade Abramovich from bringing the Dutchman back to Stamford Bridge, or will Hiddink's history with the club prove decisive?
We'll find out soon enough. But for now, we think Hiddink is the man most likely to get the job.
