Why Chelsea didn’t make a move for dynamic young European coach who had “fantastic season” | OneFootball

Fabrizio Romano has today reported that Thiago Motta has agreed to succeed Max Allegri as Juventus boss.

“The manager has informed Bologna of his decision to leave the club after fantastic season, as expected,” the insider wrote.

The former PSG player has indeed done a superb job as Bologna coach, leading them to third place with one game to go in the Serie A season.

It’s interesting that Chelsea seem to have been happy to let him go to Juve without putting up a fight. Almost every other promising young coach has been linked, but Motta (who has achieved more this season than the likes of Kieran McKenna or Enzo Maresca) has barely been mentioned.

There were some connections earlier in the spring, but nothing too concrete – amusingly this article from the 1st of May linking the Blues with Motta correctly predicts that Chelsea will sack Pochettino, but on the basis that “the West London outfit will not qualify for European competition,” which proved to be wrong after the coach pulled out a string of 5 wins on the spin to end the season.

A perfect couple that Chelsea never tried to disrupt

It seems that Motta and Juventus were just such a perfect match that nobody has really even tried that hard to prise him away from his inevitable future there. Or perhaps the deal with Juventus was already so far along from months ago that it wasn’t worth trying. Motta might also not have been interested in Chelsea – Juve aren’t in a great place right now, but it’s an environment that the coach will feel a lot more comfortable in than a sudden move to the Premier League.

Chelsea never felt likely, but they may be kicking themselves if Motta turns out to be great – and all the signs are there. He’s the type of “young, dynamic” coach that we’re being briefed that the Blues are looking for.

Time will tell who has made the right call here.