Chelsea: Recent candidates to replace Maurizio Sarri enticing, but fall short

Maurizio Sarri looks increasingly unlikely to stay at Chelsea for a second season. Three managers have emerged as recent contenders, but how well are they suited for such a demanding job?

It is safe to say the Maurizio Sarri experiment at Chelsea has not gone as well as expected. After a bright start, Sarri’s team slowly faded away to the point where the club would be lucky to qualify for next season’s Champions League. If the Blues do not finish in the top four or win the Europa League, the Italian is a sure bet to follow so many others out the door. But the question is: who should replace Sarri in the Chelsea dugout?

Managers like Watford’s Javi Gracia, Wolves’ Nuno Espirito Santo and Derby County’s Frank Lampard have been linked with the Chelsea job in recent months. While each of these names has intriguing possibilities, they are underwhelming for a club that is accustomed to sacking managers with much more impressive histories.

Gracia has done a decent job since taking over at Watford in the middle of the 2017/18 season. He has turned a team fighting relegation into a mid-table side without much of a budget.

But the Spaniard has already managed 10 different clubs in a 11-year coaching career. That will surely be a worry for the Chelsea board, who already thought their sacking days were over when they hired Maurizio Sarri, only for the Italian to force them to go back to their usual ways.

Wolves manager Nuno Espiritu Santo looks like a better a better option despite being knocked out by Gracia’s Watford side in the FA Cup semi-finals after surrendering a 2-0 lead in the last 15 minutes of the game. He has taken a Wolves side from the Championship and transformed them into a dynamic Premier League side in the span of a season.

Wolves’ record against the top six speaks for itself. Chelsea, Manchester United, Liverpool and Tottenham suffered defeat to Nuno’s side. Santo looks more ready for the big time than Gracia at this point of time. But his previous failures at Porto and Valencia is something the club must ponder before giving him the biggest job of his managerial career.

Frank Lampard seems to be the dark horse candidate for the job. The Chelsea legend has impressed since taking over as manager at Derby County this season with a team built mainly with youth players on loan from the big Premier League clubs. Hiring Lampard will surely get the fans back on the board’s side after the debacle that has been the Sarri era.

Yet Lampard’s inexperience can certainly be held against him. He has never managed in the top flight of any league, and has only the one season in the Championship. But then again, the recent successes of Zinedine Zidane and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer is proof that former players can succeed at big clubs even without any experience at managing top clubs.

But the biggest factor the club has to consider while selecting a new manager is the impending transfer ban. If Chelsea are not able to sign players in the coming summer it would make no sense to hire a new manager and give him an aging squad further demolished by the departure of the mercurial Eden Hazard. It feels like a set-up for failure.

If the transfer ban is upheld the club should retain Sarri’s services. They will have to hope the Italian manages to employ his mythical Sarriball in the Premier League with a year of experience in English football and the full benefit of the players at Chelsea under his belt.