Inside next Chelsea manager search as three names identified to replace Mauricio Pochettino

Months of speculation finally ended on Tuesday evening as Chelsea released a statement to confirm the departure of Mauricio Pochettino as the club's head coach.

The decision, understood to be by mutual consent, comes after the Argentine led Chelsea to a sixth-place finish in the Premier League season in what was a highly eventful debut campaign at Stamford Bridge. The Blues finished the term in sparkling form, winning their last five matches in the league with signs of clear progress finally starting to arrive.

That, however, was not enough to keep Pochettino in his job. The infamous end-of-season review finished on Tuesday, football.london understands, and the mutual decision for the head coach to leave was taken. It is understood that Pochettino and his coaching staff bear no grudges towards the club despite parting company less than 12 months into their reign.

The search for a new head coach will now take place but Chelsea have already done some groundwork in that department. Sebastian Hoeness, the 42-year-old German manager of VfB Stuttgart, is among those being considered.

football.london understands some people at Chelsea are big fans of Hoeness' style of play, that has been likened to that of his German compatriot Hansi Flick. Hoeness likes his team to counter-press and plays with an extremely high backline to help with this.

He led Stuttgart to an incredible second-place finish in Bundesliga in the recently-concluded 2023/24 season. The German side scored 78 goals over the course of the 38-game league season which points towards Hoeness' attacking style of football, while conceding six less than Bayern Munich, who finished a place below them.

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