Massimiliano Allegri Is the Logical Choice, so Chelsea Will Look Elsewhere

Chelsea lost out to Manchester City in the fight to make Pep Guardiola their next permanent manager this week, which leaves them still in the hunt for Jose Mourinho's replacement.

Being a man who normally gets what he wants, we can imagine Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich is feeling rather unloved right now. It used to be the Blues that controlled the English market for new managers and players, but they're having to compete much more these days.

Per Martin Lipton of the Sun, Abramovich had long craved having Guardiola at his club, so now we can expect him to react the only way he knows how—by going all out to find a manager who can rival the Spaniard's marquee appeal.

That's going to be extremely tough, and it means current Juventus head coach Massimiliano Allegri is probably way down his wish list.

The Italian signed a contract extension last summer to keep him at the Juventus Stadium until the end of 2016/17, but that hasn't stopped him being linked with Chelsea.

Indeed, it was claimed this week that Allegri was being offered a four-year contract worth £5.3 million per year to join the Blues—a rumour since denied by the club, according to the Daily Star.

Allegri is an astute manager who goes under the radar in terms of his wider appeal. He doesn't grab the headlines in the same way Chelsea's former boss Mourinho did; nor is Allegri a character in the same way as, say, Diego Simeone.

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There are two types of managers that get everyone talking: those in Guardiola's genius bracket—of which there are few—or those who court controversy and get their teams playing on the edge.

Allegri may be neither, but he is successful. Allegri has won Serie A twice in his managerial career, first with AC Milan in 2011 before sealing top spot with Juventus last season.

Had it not been for Barcelona, Juve would have sealed a treble last term, too, as they also lifted the Coppa Italia. Facing Luis Enrique's all-conquering side in the Champions League final proved a step too far, though.

His record in Italy tells us that Allegri has the pedigree Chelsea are looking for. The problem is, though, the trend at Stamford Bridge is to go with the it thing of the moment.

Just look at Abramovich's appointments since he took over the club in 2003. He inherited Claudio Ranieri and within a year, the Italian was being replaced by Mourinho, despite finishing second in the Premier League and reaching the Champions League semi-final.

The self-titled Special One proved an excellent appointment and remains the club's most successful manager of all time, so it's difficult to criticise Abramovich in that sense.

Mourinho was the man of the moment, though. Regardless of whether or not he was fresh from winning the Champions League with Porto in 2004, he had the sort of swagger that Abramovich craves in his managers and was always going to be his preferred choice in the wake of Ranieri's sacking.

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The Chelsea owner buys into having the next big thing and Mourinho was certainly it.

Avram Grant followed the Portuguese, although he was always only going to be a stop-gap between Mourinho and his permanent successor, who was later revealed as Luis Felipe Scorlari.

Scolari was never going to be a flashy manager, yet he was a World Cup winner with Brazil. His appeal was always about glory and the prestige that comes with having a world champion at your club is pretty hard to beat.

Carlo Ancelotti and Andre Villas-Boas were other appointments focused on giving Chelsea that level of prestige—managers who were hot on the lips of fans, journalists and players across Europe.

Like Mourinho, Ancelotti proved a wise choice, with Villas-Boas less so. Under the Italian, the Blues arguably played their best football of the Abramovich era, but the Villas-Boas experiment felt too premature for where the club was at the time.

In each instance, though, the west London club chased the glamour appointment. They made managerial choices on what it meant to the Chelsea brand and having a figurehead of significance is always given heightened importance.

It's not often the club has appointed a manager with just football in mind; there's often other factors that contribute to it.

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Allegri doesn't excite quite like Simeone would. In comparison, he's the quiet man of European football who has shown in the past he has the temperament to negotiate the convoluted politics that often shapes Europe's biggest clubs.

There are some big egos at Stamford Bridge—and we're not talking just about the dressing room. The power brokers at Chelsea have shown over the past decade that a manager must be able to navigate his way around that.

Mourinho failed to this season and was sacked for the second time as Chelsea boss. Now John Terry is feeling the same pressures with the club refusing to offer him a new contract to remain beyond this season.

It's because of this that a calming influence is needed in the dugout, as interim manager Guus Hiddink has shown so far. The flames are stoked enough at Stamford Bridge and Chelsea don't need their manager adding to it.

The club thrives on that chaos, though, which is why we've seen Chelsea rumble from one problem to the next over this past decade.

Of all those managers linked with Chelsea, Allegri is the logical appointment. Only Logic doesn't drive Chelsea.

Garry Hayes is Bleacher Report's lead Chelsea correspondent. All quotes were obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted. Follow him on Twitter @garryhayes