Next Chelsea manager odds: Mourinho and Zidane among favourites if Todd Boehly sacks Graham Potter

Chelsea’s 1-0 win over relegation-threatened Leeds United in the Premier League on Saturday might not have been a vintage, but under-fire head coach Graham Potter didn’t give a damn.

Wesley Fofana’s second-half header ended a streak of 396 minutes without a goal for the Blues. The win was only the third in the past 16 games.

It marked a welcome breather for former Brighton boss Potter, but it will ultimately count for very little if Chelsea fail to reverse a 0-0 Champions League round of 16 deficit against Borussia Dortmund on Tuesday.

Co-owner Todd Boehly and the Stamford Bridge hierarchy have remained publicly committed to Potter and his ability to oversee a long-term project in west London, but there is a growing sense that fan sentiment has turned against the 47-year-old .

Leaving the Champions League on home soil with hopes of a top-four finish in the Premier League all but evaporated would be a dismal combination for Potter. Should Boehly cut losses, the leading contenders make for fascinating reading, according to SkyBet’s latest odds

*Odds are accurate as of March 6, 2023

MORE: Next Premier League manager to leave: Updated 2022/23 odds as Moyes and Potter feel pressure

John Terry – 1.10

Great club-mate Frank Lampard left Stamford Bridge after 18 months on the job as Chelsea’s form completely collapsed in early 2021. However, Lampard’s appointment made everyone feel good initially and that alone would be an improvement on the current malaise.

Terry, following in his old friend’s footsteps and taking over at Chelsea far too early in his own fledgling coaching career, isn’t quite as far-fetched as it sounds. The former England captain has never managed a senior team from the dugout. His experience was limited to three years as assistant to Dean Smith at Aston Villa before returning to Chelsea last year to work with the club’s youth teams and as a coaching advisor.

Right, he’s already in the building. Terry had ambitions to pursue a managerial career but claims he changed his mind after missing out on some post-Villa jobs. Certainly he would find Chelsea’s appeal too strong to resist, although a tentative appointment if Potter is hastily sacked seems his only realistic route to the Stamford Bridge hotseat. Otherwise, perhaps he could serve as an assistant to a returning familiar face…

Jose Mourinho — 8/1

come on, really? Things may not be going well for Potter but Chelsea are not just above the relegation zone as they were when Mourinho’s second spell at the bridge ended spectacularly in late 2015. Still, although he’s since taken charge of Manchester United and Tottenham there, the obvious affection for ‘The Special One’ remains evident among Chelsea fans.

During his transformative first spell between 2004 and 2007, Mourinho led Chelsea to their first English title in 50 years. Of the six times the Blues have been crowned English champions, Mourinho has been responsible for three of them. On the other hand, it has now been around a decade since he could rightly be regarded as one of world football’s foremost coaches, as evidenced by appointments from Tottenham and now Roma.

He guided the Giallorossi to success in the inaugural Europa Conference League last season, a reminder of his trophy-winning talents. The Daily Mail reported last week that Mourinho’s representatives had contacted the Chelsea hierarchy to inform them that if Potter ran out of street her husband would be interested. Stranger things have happened.

Zinedine Zidane – 7/1

Okay, we’ve gotten past that two-piece Chelsea cosplay from the 2000s to talk about some other candidates. Back then, Zinedine Zidane was widely regarded as one of the best players in the world. As a coach, the Frenchman has retained an enigmatic aura.

It seems very odd writing about a man who has made history with three straight Champions League wins and four overall wins at Real Madrid, but is there any way we can know how good Zidane really is as a manager? He was clearly the perfect man for a given moment at Madrid, managing a dressing room he knew forensically, massaging egos and making wise in-game decisions to lead a glory era.

The intriguing question is how well Zidane’s talents would translate outside of Madrid’s complicated and unique ecosystem. As for Chelsea or other potential suitors, what matters more is how much desire Zizou has to provide any type of response. He’s been featured in reports of various high-profile jobs, most notably with Manchester United, Paris Saint-Germain and the France national team, but his high-profile CV begins and ends with his two successful spells at Madrid.

A high-profile appointment with a proven track record of winning trophies and making the most of a diverse dressing room? There’s no doubt that Zidane ticks those boxes. The other unknowns make this seem like a long shot.

Ruby Amorim — 5/1

Of all the candidates on this list, Amorim probably feels like the most boehly appointment, if we can deduce what that is. He’s a young, highly rated coach whose prime may well be ahead of him. Leading Sporting CP to their first Portuguese title in 19 years, he established a clear and bold style of play that won many admirers as he relied on youth. “One of the best at the moment” is Pep Guardiola’s verdict on the 38-year-old.

There’s plenty of evidence that Amorim could be the man who understands a talented but unwieldy Chelsea squad. However, a trainer with no sustained elite experience and a high reputation is likely to have too many echoes of Potter to be a fully suitable replacement. The last time Chelsea took a chance on the Portuguese manager’s hot young thing, they also appointed Andre Villas-Boas.

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Luis Enrique — 4/1

Plenty of talented, skilled and versatile attackers and no reliable centre-forward in sight? Luis Enrique is your man! One look at how the former Barcelona manager has set up his Spanish teams suggests he could get an immediate boost from this Chelsea squad.

Recent reports, both in Catalonia and from Fabrizio Romano, suggest that Luis Enrique is ready to return to management after Spain’s stunning campaign at the World Cup in Qatar and that Chelsea would be interested.

At first glance, Luis Enrique feels like the best combination of a coach with experience handling star names and winning trophies – his Barcelona side, with the sensational forward line of Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez and Neymar, achieved a treble in 2014. 15 – and a man with a footballing vision and a willingness to trust young people. His arrival would certainly appease most dissenting voices.

Mauricio Pochettino — 7/2

It would at least reverse the recent trend of former Chelsea managers ending up at Spurs. In the years since, a number of factors – from his own stuttering tenure at PSG to the lingering meme potential of Tottenham’s failure to win anything – have made it easy to forget what a brilliant job Pochettino did in north London has. Similarly, his stay in Southampton, having arrived in England as a virtual stranger in 2013, was a minor masterpiece.

Pochettino’s pedigree as an elite Premier League manager puts him above everyone on this list except for Mourinho, whose efforts after succeeding at Tottenham left little doubt as to who is now the most successful manager.

For those who doubt the former Argentina international due to his time in Paris, it’s worth remembering the esteem that Chelsea fans still hold for Thomas Tuchel, who won the Champions League with the Blues after failing to do so at PSG. Considering the merits of PSG and the elite coaches they cross paths with, one cannot help but conclude that the club pose a bigger problem than any individual.

Pochettino previously said he would never be able to manage Barcelona due to ongoing loyalty to Espanyol, who he played and coached for. Perhaps working for Chelsea as a Tottenham hero could pose similar problems, but if not there’s a lot to like about this potential connection.