Julian Nagelsmann is one of a number of possible candidates to replace Frank Lampard as Chelsea manager, but the Blues would have to wait until the summer if they want to hire the 33-year-old.
Lampard is under huge pressure at Stamford Bridge, with just one win in their last five Premier League games leaving them eighth in the table.
After the huge investment over the summer in the likes of Timo Werner, Kai Havertz, Ben Chilwell and Edouard Mendy, owner Roman Abramovich would have been hoping for a title challenge, which doesn’t appear to be emerging.
The Blues boss may not be able to afford another poor result, with an FA Cup clash with Luton coming up on Sunday, followed by the visit of Wolves in the Premier League on Wednesday.
Defeats in either of those contests and Lampard could be out of a job.
One of the leading candidates to replace him would be Nagelsmann, but with current club RB Leipzig riding high in second in the Bundesliga, Sky Sports report that they will not let him go mid-season.
It is unlikely that they would be able to hang onto the young manager over the summer if Chelsea came calling, but the Blues may not be able to wait till then to bring in a new manager.
Able to take the job in much shorter order would be Max Allegri or Thomas Tuchel who are both out of work at the moment.
Allegri left his post at Juventus in 2019 and Tuchel was fired as PSG boss in December, meaning both are available and would be interested if Chelsea came calling.
Tuchel is the current bookmakers’ favourite to be the next permanent manager at Stamford Bridge, although it is another name who is next in line.
Former Chelsea striker Andriy Shevchenko, the current Ukraine manager, is second on the odds-list, although it would be a huge gamble for Abramovich to appoint a man who has never managed a club side.
Next Chelsea manager odds
Thomas Tuchel 1/3
Andriy Shevchenko 5/1
Julian Nagelsmann 15/2
Max Allegri 15/2
Ralf Rangnick 15/2
Brendan Rodgers 12/1
Ralph Hasenhuttl 12/1
Avram Grant 16/1
Arsene Wenger 20/1
Claude Makelele 20/1
Odds courtesy of Betfair
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MORE : Chelsea alerted to Thomas Tuchel’s interest in replacing Frank Lampard
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