Chelsea 'Nailed On' to Hire Massimiliano Allegri After Being Forced to Shelve Luis Enrique Plans

Massimiliano Allegri will be the man to take over from Antonio Conte as new Chelsea manager next season after the reigning Premier League champions failed to convince former Barcelona coach Luis Enrique to take the plunge and test himself in England.

That is the latest gossip on the much talked about subject from the Daily Star, with claims that Enrique, who is also apparently the primary target to replace Unai Emery at Paris Saint-Germain, refused to give Chelsea enough of a commitment.

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Speculation that Allegri could be on his way to west London in summer emerged earlier this week, but the Star's report is much more confident that it is going to happen.

The tabloid notes that it had been Chelsea's intention to pair Enrique with former Chelsea and Barcelona defender Juliano Belletti as director of football. Top executive Marina Granovskaia is even said to have held 'weeks' of talks to that end, but plans were forcibly shelved.

As such, Allegri is now considered 'nailed on' to be Chelsea's new manager, while it is even claimed that the current Juventus boss was even the first choice before hiring Conte in 2016.

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It would not be the first time that Allegri, who has won Serie A in each of the last three seasons, has succeeded Conte in a job after replacing him at Juve in 2014. Prior to that, Allegri had been at AC Milan and remains the last coach to guide the Rossoneri to the a league triumph.

He remains contracted to Juve until 2020, but his position at the club may take a dent if recent domestic dominance is broken by Napoli this season. He has also been unable to crack the Champions League, losing two finals, and is heading for a quarter final exit this time around.