Next Chelsea manager odds: Who could replace Mauricio Pochettino after shock exit?

Mauricio Pochettino has stunned Chelsea fans by leaving the club by mutual consent, two days after the end of his first season.

Pochettino looked to have steadied the Blues following what was a difficult start to life at Stamford Bridge, guiding the club to European qualification by winning his final five games of the season.

“Chelsea FC can confirm that the Club and Mauricio Pochettino have mutually agreed to part way,” a statement on Tuesday evening read.

Chelsea sporting directors Laurence Stewart and Paul Winstanley, who held talks with Pochettino following the end of the season, will now lead the search for the club’s fourth permanent manager of the current ownership’s reign in London.

The new boss will follow in the footsteps of Thomas Tuchel, Graham Potter and Pochettino, who had signed a two-year deal last summer, while Bruno Saltor and Frank Lampard were in charge on an interim basis.

Kieran McKenna

The 38-year-old will be one of the favourites after taking Ipswich Town from League One to the Premier League in two seasons. The former Manchester United assistant is seen as one of the most promising young coaches in the game and Ipswich played brilliant football during their remarkable back-to-back promotion campaigns.

Enzo Maresca

Another highly-rated young coach who has just secured promotion to the Premier League. The former assistant to Pep Guardiola at Manchester City worked wonders in his first season at Leicester, winning the Championship and securing a return to the top-flight at the first attempt.

Thomas Tuchel

A legend at Stamford Bridge after winning the club’s second Champions League in 2022, before he was sacked by the new ownership group a little more than a year later. The German is available after leaving Bayern Munich. This would be crazy, but it’s Chelsea…

Roberto De Zerbi

He’s available. The Italian made a brilliant impact at Brighton, but results tailed off over the second half of this season before a sudden announcement that he would leave the Seagulls. De Zerbi had been linked with Bayern Munich, Juventus and AC Milan, even before leaving Brighton. Chelsea are admirers of Brighton’s model and previously poached Potter.

Ruben Amorim

The Sporting manager is admired around Europe and has been linked with a number of top clubs this season, including Liverpool, Barcelona and Bayern Munich. He’s just led Sporting to the Portuguese title and Chelsea reportedly held talks with the 39-year-old a couple of months ago. He seems committed to Sporting, but Chelsea could change his mind.

Sebastian Hoeness

The 42-year-old German has transformed Stuttgart and has just led the club to a second-place finish in the Bundesliga, finishing above Bayern Munich. It’s marked Hoeness out as one to watch.