Chelsea owe it to their next manager to sell Willian and David Luiz

Willian’s now-infamous Instagram story sent a message to Chelsea’s next manager: “You’re next.” Despite his previously unblemished service to the club, Chelsea must sell him to ensure the next manager has a chance of success.

Chelsea were already going to have a difficult time convincing any manager to join the dysfunction at Stamford Bridge. Willian made things even worse with his Instagram audition for a role in “Mean Girls 3: Plastics Take on London!” No manager will want to take over a team where the players have such an open disdain for his position, nor will they want to work for such a consequence-free club. Unless Chelsea want to start their search for the next next manager the day after hiring the next manager, they need to sell Willian and David Luiz.

As Travis pointed out on Sunday, if Willian and David Luiz were a decade younger, their social media posts could be written off as immature indiscretions (see also: Musonda, Charly; Kenedy, Robert). If they were well-established bad boys or problem children, it could be brushed aside as just one of those things (“That’s our Diego!”). But Willian and Luiz are two leaders of the club, experienced internationals and – by any society’s definition – adults.

Sadly, they also have the reputation of being genuinely upbeat, good-tempered people. Willian is soft-spoken, comes across as gentle in his demeanor and is the one player Chelsea can count on for his attitude and effort when times are rough. He was the Player of the Season for 2015/16 because he did not act like a dissatisfied player on a 10th-place team. He played under Jose Mourinho and Guus Hiddink with as much determination as if the Blues were chasing the title.

David Luiz is the Geezer. Everybody loves the Geezer, the always playful and fun-loving goofball. His impulses can get the better of him on defence, but they can also lead to his surprise free-kick goal against Liverpool and endless silliness off the pitch. After the FA Cup Final, he pulled himself up over a wall in the locker room to pour water on Antonio Rudiger’s head.

For these two to act as they did shows either how wrong we understood them or how sadly they have fallen. If gold rusts, what shall the iron do?

No matter how much trust the next manager thinks he has built up with his players – particularly the veterans – he will never be able to trust them fully after this. He will always be watching his back, wondering what the players are whispering to each other. When he draws up a training session or starting XI, he will interrupt the “will this work” thought process to ask “will they like it? What if they don’t?” If a young player embraces the system whole-heartedly, the manager will not be able to take his trust at face value. He will be suspicious, wondering what the young player is saying to and hearing from the older players when they are away from training. Every hug will make it easier to be stabbed in the back.

And he will know that when the locker room turns against him, he can call Jose Mourinho or Antonio Conte to commisserate, but he cannot call Roman Abramovich, Marina Gronovskaia or the technical director (remember those guys?) for support.

Antonio Conte deserves to stay, but if he leaves he cannot be the only one. His successor will have a hard enough time taking over this Chelsea side. He will already have a sword hanging over his head, as all Chelsea managers do. He should not be greeted by players gloating over his predecessor’s sacking.

Next: Maurizio Sarri is everything Chelsea fans claim to dislike in Antonio Conte

Chelsea fans called the players “rats” in 2015/16 for far less obvious disrespect than what the players have shown in the last few days. The two-year cycle is in full effect. Any manager worthy of Stamford Bridge knows it, and will have better career options than playing his predictably tragic part.