Exclusive from insider claims Chelsea have already had “multiple meetings” with unfashionable candidate | OneFootball

German Football Insider Christian Falk has written in his Daily Briefing for Caught Offside that Chelsea have had “multiple meetings” with Brentford manager Thomas Frank already as they race to appoint a replacement for Mauricio Pochettino.

“Thomas Frank has had multiple meetings with Chelsea as he is understood to be one of the candidates for the vacancy at Stamford Bridge,” he wrote.

“The Danish tactician was also under consideration at Bayern Munich before they chose to appoint Vincent Kompany, with a deal now done for the Belgian tactician to leave Burnley to take over at the Allianz Arena.”

There’s also talks of links with Manchester United, who are set to part ways with Erik Ten Hag despite his FA Cup win yesterday. After a really strong run with the Bees, it does feel like the time is right for Frank to step up a level.

Thomas Frank applauds the fans.

A very solid second choice

Of the three initial candidates whose names were put out right after the news of Mauricio Pochettino’s sacking was confirmed, Frank was the one who stood our for being a little different.

While Enzo Maresca and Kieren McKenna are very much “young” and “dynamic” and fit the brief in that way, Frank is a little older and less “dynamic” seeming. He’s done an incredibly good job coaching Brentford and getting them from the Championship into the Premier League and making them stick, but to do that he’s had to play a pretty uncompromising style of play. This isn’t going to be the pretty patterns that the owners apparently want.

We’re not surprised to hear they’ve had “multiple meetings” with him, and we certainly think he’s on the shortlist. But we’d be very surprised to find out he was top of their list, given he doesn’t have all of the qualities they’re looking for.