No sooner had Chelsea fallen to a shock defeat in Zagreb in the Champions League on Tuesday, behind the scenes the vultures were circling for the managerial corpse of Thomas Tuchel.
Nevertheless, the announcement of Thomas Tuchel’s sacking on Wednesday came as something of a surprise – perhaps a bigger one than on the pitch in the Croatian capital only hours before.
The question now is, who do the Blues and owner Todd Boehly turn to in replacing the German?
For the moment, there appears to a three-man shortlist for the job.
Brighton boss Graeme Potter is the strong favourite. Having taken the Seagulls to the heights at the start of this season, the Englishman’s stock has continued to rise and the bookies are looking in the direction of the south coast for a man tipped as future England coach.
As short as 1/5 with SkyBet, UniBet and BoyleSports, Potter is a best price of 8/15 with SBK to be the next man in the Chelsea dugout.
But would Potter leave Brighton so suddenly with his side riding high in the standings?
Two big names sit in the managerial free agency; One is Mauricio Pochettino.
Watching former club Espanyol from the stands last weekend, the Argentine has been out of a post since Christophe Galtier took the reins at PSG this summer. Still a big draw, Pochettino is 5/1 with BetUK.com.
The other heavyweight name is Zinedine Zidane.
Never to play professionally in the Premier League, Zizou walked away from Real Madrid for the second time in May 2021 after a trophyless campaign, but, of course, won the Champions League three years on the bounce with Los Blancos in 2016, 2017 and 2018 and would tick a large box if the Frenchman were tempted. Currently third-favourite for the job, Zidane is as short at 7/1 but a whacking 16/1 with SkyBet.
