It is no secret that Antonio Conte is a man under pressure after a disappointing season at Chelsea, and he is expected to be relieved of his duties at the end of the season.
The Italian sensationally steered the Blues from their 10th placed finish in 2015/16 to their Premier League title in his first season in English football. Not only did he win the title, but he did it with his revolutionary three-at-the-back system, so commonly utilised in Italy, and now so in England.
However his second season has failed to produce the same results, and the Blues currently sit in fifth, and are virtually out of the race for the top four, currently sitting seven points behind fourth placed Tottenham.
The FA Cup offers some kind of sweetener for them, with a semi-final against Southampton to come next weekend, but even lifting the famous old trophy next month is highly unlikely to save the Italian from the chop.
Now, according to the Sunday Express, Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich has drawn up a four man shortlist to replace Conte this summer.
They claim that the favourite and front runner is former Barcelona boss Luis Enrique. Enrique, who is taking a year long sabbatical out of the game, in a similar way to what Pep Guardiola did upon his departure from the Nou Camp.
Also on the shortlist is Italian duo Max Allegri of Juventus and Napoli boss Maurizio Sarri, who have been battling each other at the top of Serie A all season. There are doubts over the future of Allegri who is rumoured to be learning English ahead of a potential move to the Premier League.
The fourth and final name on the list is Celtic boss Brendan Rodgers. The former Reading manager was lured away from the Madjeski stadium by Jose Mourinho to run the Blues’ youth team, going on to spend four years at Stamford Bridge before returning to club management with Swansea City, before ultimately moving on to Liverpool and Celtic.
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