Chelsea are reportedly looking at a ‘list of around seven or eight names’ to take over as the new permanent manager.
It comes following the sacking of Liam Rosenior, with Calum McFarlane, who had been part of Rosenior’s backroom staff, named as caretaker for the rest of the 2025/26 campaign.
But The Athletic say according to club sources, co-sporting directors Paul Winstanley and Laurence Stewart are putting together a shortlist of managers with one under consideration said to be departing AFC Bournemouth boss Andoni Iraola, and are not looking to rush into making a decision either.
🚨 Chelsea are now looking at a list of around seven or eight names to take over permanently.
One of those under consideration is Iraola. [@SJohnsonSport] https://t.co/1neHeECGTR
— CFCDaily (@CFCDaily) April 29, 2026
The Standard state that Marco Silva, Andoni Iraola and Xabi Alonso all feature on Blues’ shortlist, the club to explore Silva’s availability for the role after reaching out to his representatives.
Checks are being made on the individual circumstances of each contender, although none of them have so far received a formal offer, the process still in its early stages.
Their report adds that senior figures at Fulham are confident Silva will extend his stay, but Chelsea aren’t so convinced.
Chelsea Manager For 1st Game Of The 2026/2027 season
Sky BetXabi Alonso – 5/2Andoni Iraola – 5/2Marco Silva – 6/1Frank Lampard – 7/1Cesc Fabregas – 9/1Oliver Glasner – 12/1Filipe Luis – 12/1Gary O’Neil – 12/1Unai Emery – 14/1Julian Nagelsmann – 14/1Calum McFarlane – 14/1Fabian Hurzeler – 16/1Luis Enrique – 20/1Jose Mourinho – 25/1Roberto De Zerbi – 25/1Kjetil Knutsen – 25/1Xavi Hernandez – 25/1Ruben Amorim – 33/1Jurgen Klopp – 33/1Thomas Tuchel – 33/1Zinedine Zidane – 33/1Damien Duff – 33/1Pep Guardiola – 40/1
Would Xabi Alonso be the right manager to take charge of Chelsea? 👔🔵 pic.twitter.com/J8zXukZkgj
— Sky Sports News (@SkySportsNews) April 28, 2026
Kaveh Solhekol spoke on the potential candidates to succeed Liam Rosenior as Chelsea head coach. He said when asked why those three (Iraola, Silva and Alonso) on Sky Sports:
“Well, I think potentially they could all be available, all three of them. We know Iraola is going to be available this summer because he’s come out and said that he will be leaving Bournemouth. And I think he ticks a lot of boxes for Chelsea.
“He is a coach who’s done a great job at Bournemouth. He’s somebody who doesn’t really want to get involved in transfers. I think that would work pretty well at Chelsea. The only question mark about him is with all due respect to Bournemouth, who actually I think could be above Chelsea in the Premier League table soon, but historically Chelsea are undeniably a bigger club. Would he be able to deal with all the sort of off-field scrutiny that comes with being the Chelsea manager? But he’s somebody who’s been discussed at Chelsea at the moment.
“Another name that’s been discussed uh is Alonso Alonzo. Now, this one is really, really intriguing because he’s been out of work since he left Real Madrid.
“He was forced out of Real Madrid by player power, by those massive egos in the Real Madrid dressing room. Okay, there are big egos in the Chelsea dressing room as well. There’s a lot of player power at Chelsea, but nowhere near on the scale that there is at Madrid. He’s also had success as you can see there winning uh the title in Germany and he’s had a stellar playing career. So I think he would get the respect of the Chelsea players straight away. The big question mark about him is would he want to manage Chelsea at this stage of his career.
“The final name that’s being discussed amongst lots of other names that are being discussed as well is Marco Silva because we don’t know if he’s going to sign a new contract at Fulham.
“In the past, he’s been very loyal to Fulham, turned down massive money uh to move to Saudi Arabia, but he’ll be out of contract in a matter of weeks at Fulham, and he’s done a fantastic job at Fulham.
“So, is he ready to make the move from Fulham to Chelsea? For what it’s worth, I think he’d be a fantastic appointment. He’s got an excellent staff around him to you’d imagine he’d want to take them with him to Chelsea if he got the Chelsea job. But perhaps I’m getting a little bit ahead of myself.
“But look,Chelsea are looking at the moment. It’s at a very early stage of the recruitment process.”
Ask could there be any others, he replied: “Yeah. Another name you got to talk about is Oliver Glasner, who will be leaving Crystal Palace. He’s done a fantastic job.
“Also, I think there will be candidates who whose names are not in the public domain at the moment because Chelsea are focused on making sure they get the right man. It’s absolutely crucial that they get this appointment right. That’s easier said than done, of course, but I imagine they will be looking at all the top managers who potentially could be available this summer.”
