Leicester City lock horns with Ipswich Town in battle to land ex Chelsea boss as negotiations ongoing

Chelsea have placed Ipswich Town head coach Kieran McKenna and Leicester City boss Enzo Maresca on their shortlist for a new head coach following the departure of Mauricio Pochettino.

That is according to a report from Matt Law of The Telegraph, who was first to break the news that Pochettino was leaving after just one season at Stamford Bridge.

Despite the Blues’ upturn in form towards the end of the 2023-24 season, Chelsea owner Todd Boehly and the rest of the club’s hierarchy has decided to part company with the Argentine.

And included on the preferred list of candidates to succeed Pochettino are McKenna and Maresca, who finished runner-up and champion of the Championship respectively.

Kieran McKenna and Enzo Maresca on Chelsea radar following Mauricio Pochettino departure

Chelsea are now searching for their third new permanent manager since the Boehly era started in the summer of 2022.

Just a few months into the American businessman’s arrival in West London, Thomas Tuchel was sacked and replaced by Brighton boss Graham Potter, who only himself lasted just seven months in the hotseat at Stamford Bridge.

Pochettino was the next to take on the seemingly poisoned chalice after Frank Lampard returned for an interim stint in charge, but Boehly’s seemingly blank chequebook couldn’t push the Blues into the UEFA Champions League spots once more – instead, they dropped to as low as 12th positiion in the Premier League standings after 16 matches played.

Losing just once in their last 15 league matches, Chelsea found form eventually under Pochettino to finish in sixth position in the Premier League, but it was agreed mutually to end his contract a year early.

That means a new head coach will be sought after, and much like last summer when the London outfit looked at Vincent Kompany following his success with Burnley in the second tier of English football, Boehly has two promotion-winning coaches in his sights once more.

Maresca was expected to win promotion with Leicester in just his second senior managerial job after a brief 2021 stint with Parma in his home nation of Italy, and despite a wobble in the final third of the season, the Foxes won the title and finished seven points clear of third-placed Leeds.

McKenna meanwhile pulled off a somewhat unimaginable feat by securing back-to-back promotions with Ipswich – despite not even winning the League One title in 2022-23.

The Tractor Boys’ fluid, attacking style has clearly not been ignored by the powers-that-be at Stamford Bridge, who will have been watching on with interest as young winger Omari Hutchinson flourished in Suffolk.

Chelsea are not the only club keen on McKenna though, with both Brighton and Man United keeping tabs on the Northern Irishman, with the former having a vacancy of their own to fill following Roberto De Zerbi’s exit at the weekend.

McKenna and Maresca aren’t the only names being eyed up by Chelsea though, with Stuttgart boss Sebastian Hoeness also under consideration after leading his side to a second-placed finish in the Bundesliga behind the unbeaten Bayer Leverkusen, whilst 48-year-old Girona manager Michel is also on their radar after leading the City Football Group-owned outfit to UEFA Champions League football.

Chelsea role would be huge jump for Kieran McKenna or Enzo Maresca

Maresca and McKenna have worked extremely hard to put their current clubs into the top flight of English football, so naturally they are going to be wanted men.

Chelsea’s interest in McKenna was known before any decision on Pochettino had been made, but Maresca being considered comes as somewhat of a surprise, given some Leicester fans were critical at times of his style of play and the fact it looked at one stage that they were going to fumble automatic promotion.

The Blues are clearly looking for an up-and-coming head coach given their apparent initial shortlist, but you have to think that a job which possesses a lot of highly-paid players and potential egos may be too soon for either of the Championship promotion winners.

Maresca has been dealing with some high-paid players himself at Leicester so may be more fitting to head to Chelsea, but for McKenna it would be a whole new world – one he may not quite be ready for just yet.