The roulette has continued to spin and it has landed in very interesting positions. The clubs involved this time around are: Chelsea; Bayern Munich; West Ham; Barcelona and Juventus. There have been crazy moves being made in the managerial circuit. I was even shocked by the movements that have been made.
Starting at Stamford Bridge [Chelsea] and the departure of Mauricio Pochettino. No one outside the club expected this to happen. After an up and down season, they seemingly found their stride late on as they finished the season with five straight wins and a 6th place finish. Everything looked as if everything was rosy.
However, that wasn't the case behind closed doors. The owners expected Pochettino to lead Chelsea to the Champions League. It was also under him that they suffered their worst ever defensive record. Graham Potter might have been right when describing this job as the "hardest in football." The team are very youthful and lack proper experience. This is despite Chelsea having 39-year-old Thiago Silva.
The Argentine was hired in large part because of his record for developing players, such as those and he certainly delivered on that front with Palmer, a revelation following his move from Manchester City, and with Jackson, who finished a difficult campaign strongly.
Pochettino also coaxed improvement from Noni Madueke, Malo Gusto, Trevoh Chalobah and Conor Gallagher, among others. Despite a not so obvious inconsistent series of results, improvements were being made. The team's wayward finishing, coupled with costly - and frequent - individual mistakes at the other end of the pitch, masked encouraging overall performance levels.
All this evidence of progress only mattered so much to the club's decision-makers in the end. This is despite a supposedly long-term project centred on maximising the potential of a young squad, something Pochettino was working towards.
Compromises could not be reached to continue together and the result is that, just as things were coming together on the pitch, Chelsea are starting over again; searching for the club's sixth permanent managerial appointment in five years - and their fourth in two under the new owners.
It was reported that there has been a split for some time within the Chelsea hierarchy over whether to persist with Pochettino after a disappointing campaign, in which they were languishing in midtable despite spending £1 billion ($1.27 billion) on new players since the Boehly-Clearlake Capital takeover of May 2022. Boehly was keen on retaining Pochettino but Eghbali wanted to replace him with a new coach.
Pochettino's frustration at the ongoing uncertainty over his future had spilled into his recent news conferences, insisting it "would not be the end of the world" if he left Chelsea.
The players held a gathering with families at the stadium in the hours after Sunday's final-day win over Bournemouth and nobody there was told that Pochettino would be leaving. Tuesday's decision comes after the club held an end of season review.
The Blues ended their campaign with five consecutive wins and just one league defeat from 15 matches but frustrations on both sides had already been well established. The club expected quicker progress under Pochettino given the significant investment on players while the Argentine had concerns about the day-to-day running of the club and the lack of clarity over forward planning.
At the time of this writing, Chelsea are still actively looking for a new manager. They are seeking a younger manager. Ipswitch manager, Kieran McKenna; Roberto De Zerbi; Sporting Lisbon boss, Ruben Amorim; Leicester City manager, Enzo Maresca and Brentford's Thomas Frank are the leading candidates.
Across London at the London Stadium [West Ham], Julen Lopetegui has recently become the new manager. He replaces David Moyes who left the role by mutual consent at the expiry of his contract. The 57-year-old will work closely with technical director, Tim Steidten, who will have more control over the recruitment. When Moyes was reappointed in 2019, it was under the proviso that he would have a big say in recruitment and transfers.
His primary role will involve making sure that West Ham go back into Europe. This comes after they finished 9th this season. He said upon joining the club, "I am where I want to be. I am here because I want to be here and for us it was a fantastic day when we closed our agreement here because we our commitment is 100 per cent to be here. We had other opportunities but I am very happy that West Ham chose me because I chose West Ham too, so we are really happy about this.
“We came here with the idea and the thought to make a big, big noise."
Over to Germany now and to the Allianz Arena [Bayern Munich]. After going through numerous candidates, including a last minute decline from Ralf Rangnick, they are close to appointing Vincent Kompany, in a shock move.
It would be a shock because he recently managed Burnley, who were relegated with 24 points. Twelve months ago, Kompany’s stock was at its peak after guiding Burnley to a dominant 101-point Championship-winning campaign. However, after a very poor season in the top flight, that seemed to have dropped.
Kompany’s stock has remained high over the past year despite Burnley’s relegation to the Championship. His side were unable to kick on and ended the most reason season with just 24 points – eight points behind fourth-bottom Nottingham Forest.
It's apparent that Bayern Munich didn't take much notice of the form and relegation. It's then a surprise that a club of Bayern Munich’s stature would be prepared to take a risk on Kompany, given he is yet to manage at the highest level. Then again, it is also true that the Germans appear to be rapidly running out of options in a search that began when Thomas Tuchel’s end-of-season departure was announced in February.
That hasn’t stopped clubs from identifying Kompany as a potential option to become their new manager, with Bayern opening up talks about the possibility of him joining them. Burnley are demanding a compensation fee of around €20 million (£17 million).
In Spain, to Camp Nou [Barcelona], there are doubts about Xavi's future. It's been reported that Barcelona are gearing up for a managerial change this summer after reaching a verbal agreement with Hansi Flick, following Deco's meeting in London with the German tactician. The former Bayern boss has already presented a blueprint to revive Barcelona which has reportedly impressed the club's hierarchy including club president, Joan Laporta.
Despite recently re-comitting to Barcelona, his recent comments questioning the team’s ability to compete with Real Madrid, due to financial constraints, reportedly irked Laporta and the club supremo is now thought to be determined to get rid of him.
Finally to Turin, Italy and the Allianz Stadium [Juventus]. Massimiliano Allegri, who was sacked last week after his behaviour during and after the Coppa Italia final win over Atalanta, was deemed "incompatible with the values of Juventus" by the Turin-based club. Bologna's Thiago Motta will replace him.
Motta, 41, led Bologna to Champions League qualification for the first time in their history in his second season at the club, and those exploits have put him on the radar of many of Europe's top teams.
Motta won over Bologna fans with results and his brand of possession-based football, using an advanced press and building from the back. This comes after much initial scepticism when he replaced Sinisa Mihajlovic in September 2022.
Each team has encountered their own unique situation for wanting to find a new manager. It's these different situations that makes each one interesting in their own right. To be honest, I'm surprised by every club's reasoning - apart from West Ham. Chelsea; Bayern Munich; Barcelona and Juventus have seeked a different direction despite performing well. To me, performing well equals continuity. I believed that Bayern Munich would go for a more experienced manager. Chelsea are once again taking a gamble on a new manager. Barcelona has set a contingency plan and Juventus are going with good old values of the club.
Source Material
Jones, A. 2024. Why do Bayern Munich want Vincent Kompany? The Athletic.
Mukherjee, S. 2024. Hansi Flick to Barcelona is back on! Ex-Bayern Munich boss agrees to replace Xavi despite current coach's U-turn on summer departure. Goal.com
Mukherjee, S. 2024. Revealed: The giant fee Bayern Munich must pay to hire Vincent Kompany as Burnley refuse to let him go on the cheap. Goal.com
Newman, R. 2024. Julen Lopetegui confirmed as West Ham head coach - 'My ambition as a coach is always to be better and better.' EuroSports.
O'Rouke, P. 2024. Vincent Kompany: Bayern Munich deal close after overnight talks – sources. Football Insider.
Olley, J. 2024. Mauricio Pochettino leaves Chelsea after 1 season in charge. ESPN.
Reuters. 2024. Thiago Motta to leave Bologna amid Juventus manager links. ESPN.
Sky Sports. 2024. Julen Lopetegui confirmed as new West Ham boss as former Wolves manager replaces David Moyes. Sky Sports.
Wright, N. 2024. Mauricio Pochettino leaves Chelsea despite progress as club gamble again. Sky Sports.