Enzo Maresca has left Chelsea after a rapid decline in his relationship with club bosses.
Chelsea have picked up just one win in their last seven Premier League games with any hope of challenging for the Premier League title now seemingly gone. Chelsea, who go to Manchester City on Sunday, are fifth on 30 points, 15 behind leaders Arsenal.
They were held to a 2-2 draw at home to Bournemouth on Tuesday and Maresca was booed by home fans after taking off Cole Palmer as his side chased a winner. Replacing Maresca was probably not a task the Blues board were expecting less than six months after he led them to victory in the Club World Cup.
But the tensions have been clear to see and the Italian coach, 45, had added to the uncertainty with a series of cryptic comments in press conferences. Here are five of the early favourites to replace him in the Stamford Bridge dugout.
Liam Rosenior
Rosenior, 41, showed promise as a caretaker at Derby County and in a more mixed spell at Hull City before moving to France and taking the Strasbourg job. His good results there briefly took the team up to second place before some recent defeats brought them back to seventh.
With Strasbourg being part of Chelsea's BlueCo group it would be a quick and easy solution, although supporters used to seeing the world's most accomplished coaches arrive at the club might need some convincing.
Cesc Fabregas
The former Chelsea favourite, 38, has taken well to management at Como where he helped the team clinch promotion to Serie A and has since steered them to sixth place with seven wins and six draws from 16 matches.
Would be a more starry and fashionable appointment given Fabregas' stellar playing career, while his status as a popular former player would buy him more time with the club's increasingly frustrated fan base.
Unai Emery
The Spaniard, 54, has done incredible work at a host of La Liga clubs and now at Aston Villa, taking them from a relegation fight to the Champions League in no time.
A tricky summer in the market led to a slow start to 2025/26, but an incredible winning sequence has hoisted Villa to the fringes of the title battle.
His coaching pedigree is beyond question and that would have been abundantly clear when he led Villa to a 2-1 win at Stamford Bridge last Saturday.
Oliver Glasner
The German, 51, is out of contract in the summer so would likely be quite an easy get from Crystal Palace.
Glasner has turned Palace into a quality side and won the FA Cup last year at Manchester City's expense, leading them into Europe for the first time. The former Eintracht Frankfurt coach would surely jump at the chance to move across London and succeed Maresca.
Xavi
The Spaniard, one of the greatest midfielders of the modern era, is reported to be positioned strongly among potential candidates.
Xavi, 45, won La Liga in 2022/23 with Barcelona but has been without a club since departing the Camp Nou in May 2024 with a 63 per cent win ratio from his 142 games in charge.
