Chelsea are back in familiar territory, searching for another permanent manager following the sacking of Liam Rosenior after less than four months in charge.
Calum McFarlane will lead and plan the team line-up for Sunday's FA Cup semi-final with Leeds at Wembley after Rosenior lost five consecutive Premier League games.
Rosenior had been appointed as a surprise replacement for Enzo Maresca in January, but despite being given a six year deal after arriving at Stamford Bridge from Strasbourg, the former Hull City defender lasted just 107 days at the reigning Club World Cup champions.
It always felt like a strange appointment, but in searching for a safe pair of hands that understood the BlueCo vision, Chelsea have inadvertently cost themselves a place in next season's Champions League unless they can turn things around majorly in their final few Premier League fixtures.
Speaking to Casinos.com, who compare sportsbooks and apps designed for playing casino games on the go, one Blues fan said, “I get we’ve had games piling up, but we simply haven’t been good enough, and the results speak for themselves. At a club like this, it’s unacceptable not to be winning regularly.
“We’ve thrown away a top-five spot and only really have ourselves to blame. And now he walks away with over £20 million for three months’ work. It just sums up what a mess the club is in right now.”
Chelsea’s next appointment has to be spot on. It’s about choosing a direction they have so far refused to commit to.
While the club have reportedly made no official contact over a replacement, the betting market gives us some early names, but more importantly, they reveal the thinking inside the club. Here are some of the leading candidates.
Andoni Iraola 2/1
When Andoni Iraola announced he would leave Bournemouth at the end of the season, and soon to be replaced by Marco Rose, it was inevitable his name would be linked with several big moves.
Despite losing key players throughout his tenure on the south coast, he has kept Bournemouth a competitive Premier League side and comfortably clear of relegation concerns.
For a club many expected to struggle, that consistency has been one of the more underrated coaching jobs in the division.
There was plenty of debate when he replaced Gary O’Neil, who had built Bournemouth into a well-drilled and organised unit, over whether Iraola could actually elevate them rather than simply maintain that base level.
He has since answered that, not just by stabilising performances but by giving the team a clearer attacking identity and a higher ceiling in possession and transition moments.
The question at Chelsea is less about suitability and more about conditions. Iraola’s system takes repetition, clarity and time. If results don’t arrive quickly, there is always the risk that Todd Boehly’s track record suggests patience may run thin before the project fully settles.
Filipe Luis 3/1
Filipe Luis feels like the clearest expression of Chelsea’s current recruitment model. A young, hungry manager who spent a year as a player at the Bridge and won the 2014/15 title as a back-up left-back.
He began coaching Flamengo’s Under-17s in January 2024 before being promoted to the first team just months later. Since then, he has delivered domestic success and lifted the Copa Libertadores in under 20 months in charge, an unusually rapid rise in a role that typically demands a longer adjustment period.
There is an obvious attempt to impose order rather than rely on moments of individual chaos, which aligns with what Chelsea’s squad is increasingly built to support.
The obvious question is experience. He is still early in his managerial journey, and Stamford Bridge is not a forgiving environment for learning on the job. But in terms of upside and alignment with the club’s profile strategy, he fits the direction of travel.
Cesc Fabregas 4/1
This would be the romantic appointment. Cesc Fabregas is a former Chelsea midfielder who understands the club’s culture, expectations and internal pressure points better than most candidates on the list.
His early coaching work has leaned heavily into positional structure, technical control and possession-heavy patterns. There is a clear influence from the elite managers he worked under, including Tito Vilanova, Pep Guardiola, Jose Mourinho, Vicente del Bosque and Antonio Conte, particularly in how he frames control of matches through midfield dominance.
At Como, he has built a progressive and competitive side, with an exciting group that includes Nico Paz and a growing reputation for punching above expectations in Serie A. There is real momentum behind his coaching profile, even if it is still developing.
The challenge is obvious. Como is building something meaningful, and it would take a significant push to prise him away. Chelsea would be betting on potential, familiarity, and sentimentality all at once, which is rarely a stable foundation for a Premier League appointment.
Diego Simeone 6/1
Diego Simeone is the statement name in the market, but also the least likely in practical terms.
He has defined an era at Atletico Madrid through intensity, emotional control, and one of the most recognisable tactical identities in European football.
Under El Cholo, Atleti have consistently punched above financial expectation, competing with and beating the far richer duopoly of Real Madrid and Barcelona across multiple seasons.
The question is whether he would actually leave now, especially if Atletico continue to compete for the Champions League. After more than a decade in Madrid, there is a sense he is approaching a natural cycle point, but England has never felt like a clear destination for him. 6/1 odds feel very strange.
Frank Lampard 8/1
Frank Lampard remains a recurring name whenever Chelsea enters managerial uncertainty, largely because of his history at the club and previous interim spells in charge.
He is currently rebuilding his reputation at Coventry City, where he has been given the platform to stabilise and develop a team returning to the Premier League for the first time in 25 years. There is a sense of continuity and project-building there that may be difficult to walk away from.
Chelsea would likely only turn to Lampard in a specific scenario, either as a short-term stabiliser or in a moment of emergency. The idea of a long-term return still feels unlikely given the club’s current preference for younger, system-led coaches.
Ultimately, the shortlist says less about replacing Rosenior than it does about the cycle that led to his exit in the first place.
Each option offers something different, structure, upside, familiarity, or statement value, but none resolve the deeper issue of direction.
Chelsea continues to shift between profiles rather than committing to a single footballing identity, meaning every appointment becomes a recalibration rather than a conclusion.
Until that changes, the job itself risks being defined by short-term fixes rather than long-term planning, with the manager simply the latest figure asked to steady a project that never fully settles.
