Jamie Carragher backs Chelsea to announce one manager in a matter of weeks, but Gary Neville slams ‘nightmare’ Boehly spell
Jamie Carragher has revealed the manager he is expecting to take over at Chelsea, and an appointment could take place in the next few weeks, while Gary Neville has hit out at chairman Todd Boehly for the way he is running the club.
After sacking Graham Potter, Chelsea have appointed club legend and former boss Frank Lampard as their head coach until the end of the season. Lampard is aiming to take Chelsea far in the Champions League and help them to achieve a respectable Premier League position.
Unfortunately for Lampard and Chelsea, they may struggle to get any further than the last eight of the Champions League. They lost 2-0 to Real Madrid at the Bernabeu in the first leg of their quarter-final clash. The Blues started well but goals from Karim Benzema and Marco Asensio – either side of a Ben Chilwell red card – put Real in a strong position to reach the semis.
It is still possible for Chelsea to overturn the two-goal deficit as the return leg will take place at Stamford Bridge. However, this will be hard to do given Real’s status as one of the best teams remaining in the Champions League.
In terms of Chelsea’s league position, they currently sit in 11th place on 39 points. With UCL qualification for next season already gone, the best Chelsea can realistically do is make the Europa League or Europa Conference League. Although, they will have to go on a fantastic winning run in their final eight matches to do this.
Potential Chelsea managers Julian Nagelsmann and Mauricio Pochettino will likely be keeping tabs on how the team finishes the campaign.
During an appearance on The Overlap, Neville has discussed Chelsea’s managerial situation and their hunt for a new head coach. He thinks appointing Lampard was a better solution than leaving Bruno Saltor in charge until the summer.
“It isn’t right. You’ve still got two months of the season to go, you’ve got to do it properly,” Neville said (via the Daily Mail). “I don’t think Chelsea can afford just to leave Graham Potter’s No 2 in until the end of the season. They had to do something.
Todd Boehly ‘having an absolute nightmare’ – Gary Neville
“They obviously can’t get the man that they want. Whether it be Nagelsmann, Pochettino or whoever.
“The guy Boehly is having an absolute nightmare. It’s not going well at all.”
Carragher then backed Chelsea to land Nagelsmann ahead of Tottenham, even going as far as suggesting an announcement could be made in the next few weeks.
“I think if we’re being totally honest, if a manager has a choice between Chelsea and Spurs, I think they’d choose Chelsea,” Carragher declared. “More chances of winning, maybe a bigger transfer kitty.
“The fact they have brought Frank Lampard in makes me think they’ve already lined someone up for the summer. That’s why they’re putting in a proper manager, who’s had two or three jobs elsewhere, unlike Bruno.
Jamie Carragher thinks Chelsea have next boss ready to go
“I wouldn’t be surprised if it came out in the next couple of weeks that Nagelsmann’s agreed to join Chelsea, but he wants a little bit of time out to get himself ready and have a pre-season.
“I might be totally wrong but to do Frank straight away and not give him another week or so, makes me think they’ve already got someone lined up for the summer.”
It would be great to see Nagelsmann come to the Premier League. He is generally viewed as being one of the best young coaches in the world, having managed the likes of Bayern Munich, RB Leipzig and Hoffenheim.
Bayern released the 35-year-old from his contract with them on March 24. Despite this, he was not doing a terrible job at the Allianz Arena.
At that point, Bayern were second in the German top flight, one point behind Borussia Dortmund. They had also reached the Champions League and DFB-Pokal quarter-finals.
However, the Bayern board decided to act as they did not think the team was on the right track under Nagelsmann, while they also knew that Thomas Tuchel was available. Due to this decision, Chelsea could now benefit by giving Nagelsmann his first shot at Prem glory.
