“I keep hearing his name from sources” – 2 managers front of the queue to replace Mauricio Pochettino | OneFootball

Our writer Simon Phillips is exclusively reporting on Chelsea’s links with other managers in the last few days on his Substack, with some very interesting notes.

He says that one of his sources thinks there’s a “decent chance” that Gareth Southgate could yet come to Chelsea this summer as he is on the “contingency list” for the eventuality that Mauricio Pochettino leaves. Although predictably that interest seems to come more from Southgate’s camp.

The England coach isn’t the only one – there’s also a lot of links with Eddie Howe..

“Personally I cannot see Howe to Chelsea becoming a thing, but it’s odd that I keep hearing his name from sources,” Phillips commented.

Expect the unexpected

As insiders like Ben Jacobs kept reminding us, it’s very normal for Chelsea to be in contact with other coaches informally even while their intentions are to keep Pochettino. The fact that names keep getting mentioned doesn’t indicate that they’re coming in.

Pochettino certainly had some hairy moments earlier in the season, but this recent good run seems to us to have secured him another season at Chelsea.

It’s just plain and simple good planning to make sure you know what is out there. The unexpected is always out there – that could be a sudden run of defeats for Pochettino, or as he pointed out himself, it could be his own decision to walk away.

Given it seems our other options would be Southgate and Howe, we’re sure most Chelsea fans are pretty happy to stick with what we’ve got for another year, or at least the first ten games or so of next season to see if we make the major progress that’s expected.

Phillips is much less hot on Pochettino – he says his “gut feeling” is that there will be a mutual parting of the ways of Chelsea and  the manager. It’s an interesting few weeks ahead…