Chelsea will be looking to win the FA Cup final this weekend when they take on Manchester City. They will be heavy underdogs on the occasion though. After what we have seen over the past four years under BlueCo, it is hard to back the Blues in these kinds of games. In fact, they have never beaten Pep Guardiola’s side since their Champions League triumph back in 2021.
Of course, in the eyes of many, Chelsea have lost their place in the English football pecking order over these four years. And they believe that the club will have a tough time attracting coaches this summer.
David Ornstein, arguably the most reliable journalist in football today, does not agree with that view. He said about the matter while talking on The Athletic FC Podcast:
“And many people sort of quite flippantly say no coach will want to work there, that’s just nonsense. Coaches want these jobs. Chelsea is a massive club, it’s got a storied recent history in particular in terms of trophy-winning ability and expectations.”
David Ornstein believes coaches still want Chelsea job
Chelsea fans will be hoping that Ornstein is absolutely right about this. That is because the club need to bring in an elite manager this summer.
The club’s experimental choice to hand the job to Liam Rosenior after Enzo Maresca’s exit in the middle of the season proved to be a mistake. The Englishman simply could not handle the job.
While he had impressed many with how he had handled the media after coming in, he was not able to deliver on the pitch. Since his departure, it has emerged that he had never really commanded the respect of the dressing room.
Chelsea need to make sure that their next coach does that. And one name seems to have taken the lead in this respect.
The Xabi Alonso story and where it stands
Xabi Alonso has emerged as the outright favourite to become the next Chelsea manager. But also, let’s not forget, nothing is settled yet.
Positive talks are believed to have been held with Alonso and his camp. But as long as it is not official, Chelsea fans cannot afford to get excited. We have seen things fall apart in the final phases in the past.
Someone like Alonso could be the one to bring the club back on track. He took a Bayer Leverkusen side 17th in the Bundesliga, struggling to avoid relegation, and turned them into Germany’s first Invincible champions the following season. Chelsea will be hoping that he has a few more rabbits to pull out of his magic hat, if he does take the Stamford Bridge job.
Sourav Mahanty
Sourav Mahanty has covered teams like Chelsea, Celtic, Real Madrid, Manchester United, PSG and more over a career that has now lasted a decade. His work has been featured on Sports Illustrated, Athlon Sports, SB Nation, FanSided, The Sportster and aggregated through Bleacher Report and NewsNow. Outside of football, he is also interested in basketball, cricket and professional wrestling.
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