Six Potential Replacements for Enzo Maresca at Chelsea

Chelsea are on the hunt for their fifth permanent manager of the BlueCo era.

Enzo Maresca has departed Chelsea. / Catherine Ivill/AMA/Getty Images

A very welcome to 2026 to everybody apart from Chelsea fans, who are beginning the new year with the news that manager Enzo Maresca has departed his post at Stamford Bridge.

Ugly tensions behind the scenes have reached such an unsustainable level that it is believed Maresca wanted to depart Chelsea, having grown tired of working under the current structure.

Maresca’s departure leaves Chelsea needing to pursue the fifth permanent manager of the BlueCo reign. The group only took over in 2022 and wasted little time in sacking Thomas Tuchel, but Graham Potter and Mauricio Pochettino both failed to satisfy those calling the shots at Stamford Bridge.

Here are six names to watch out in Chelsea’s search for a new manager.

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Oliver Glasner

Oliver Glasner has impressed with Crystal Palace. / Sebastian Frej/Getty Images

Chelsea are known admirers of Oliver Glasner’s work at Crystal Palace—how could they not be?—and could look to steal a march on his other suitors with a job offer this winter.

Glasner is in the final six months of his contract with Palace and, while there’s no system to set up a summer switch when it comes to managers, it’s something that could be negotiated. After all, Glasner is not expected to sign an extension and could walk away at the end of the season anyway.

Chelsea could even try to snap up Glasner immediately, but they would have to negotiate a pay-off with Palace. It would likely only be a small fee, given the limited time left on his current contract, but that means the Eagles may prove incredibly reluctant negotiators—just ask Marc Guéhi.

Questions would have to be asked over his tactical fit, given Glasner plays a 3-4-2-1 setup and uses the sort of fullbacks explicitly banished by Maresca, but the bloated nature of Chelsea’s squad means any formation could be introduced without any major issues.

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Liam Rosenior

Liam Rosenior is already in the BlueCo sphere. / Ross MacDonald/SNS Group/Getty Images

Perhaps the likeliest appointment here is the man who has been billed as Chelsea’s “contingency plan” in a handful of reports, Liam Rosenior from sister side Strasbourg.

Appointed by the Ligue 1 side in July last year, it would be somewhat of an overstatement to state Rosenior has been groomed in the BlueCo image, but those calling the shots across the two clubs clearly believe the former Hull City boss has something worth getting excited about and convincing him to work in Chelsea’s divisive structure should, on paper, prove fairly simple.

The obvious concern with a move for Rosenior is his comparative lack of experience. After a brief stint as Derby County’s caretaker boss, Rosenior spent two years doing solid work with Hull before being surprisingly dismissed for missing out on a spot in the Championship playoffs in the 2023–24 season—the same year Maresca won the title with Leicester City.

His appointment at Strasbourg came as a surprise but Rosenior exceeded expectations in his first season as he led the team to seventh. A handful of Premier League approaches were rejected as Rosenior instead signed a new contract with the French side. A step up to the Chelsea job would be a significant one.

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Cesc Fàbregas

Cesc Fàbregas would be a popular hire. / Giuseppe Bellini/Getty Images

A popular choice among Chelsea fans would be the appointment of former Blues favourite Cesc Fàbregas, who continues to prove his coaching pedigree with Serie A newcomers Como.

Like Rosenior, Fàbregas brings obvious inexperience but that hardly seems to be of interest to Chelsea’s owners. After all, Maresca had just 67 games under his belt when he was offered the Chelsea job—Fàbregas begins 2026 with 57 to his name.

One of the game’s greatest technicians and with clear tactical intelligence, Fàbregas has all the attributes you would want from a possible project manager, and his knowledge of the Premier League would aid his transition into the Stamford Bridge dugout.

He may not be an easy hire, however. Fàbregas is under contract with Como until 2028 but, perhaps more importantly, also has shares in the club’s ownership. One for the lawyers, you’d assume.

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Andoni Iraola

Andoni Iraola could be Enzo Maresca’s final Chelsea opponent. / Robin Jones/AFC Bournemouth/Getty Images

Andoni Iraola’s management stock is trending downwards after a red-hot spell at the helm of Bournemouth, making this an opportune time to get a deal done.

Having joined in 2023, Iraola immediately turned Bournemouth from relegation fodder into genuine noise-makers in the top half of the table. Things have gone south this year but there’s no denying his ability to win games in the Premier League when things are going well.

Like Glasner, Iraola is another in the final six months of his current contract. He is expected to receive a handful of offers but Chelsea could prove to be his suitors with the highest profile, giving them a possible advantage.

It would be another risk, but the potential is clearly there, and that is evidently what Chelsea are about these days.

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Roberto De Zerbi

Robert De Zerbi was under consideration in the past. / Alex Martin/AFP/Getty Images

If Chelsea did not hire Maresca in 2024, multiple reports suggest it would have been Roberto De Zerbi who landed in the Stamford Bridge dugout instead.

Appreciation for the Italian is high inside Stamford Bridge after De Zerbi’s impressive work with Brighton & Hove Albion—the true inspiration behind nearly every backstage move at Chelsea—and his current stint with Marseille has also caught the eye.

Tactically, there are plenty of reasons for Chelsea to be interested in De Zerbi. Instead, the primary thing working against this hypothetical union is the Italian’s abrasive personality and a personal approach which feels almost polar opposite to that for which Chelsea are looking.

De Zerbi’s Brighton tenure ended after a public dispute with owner Tony Bloom, having grown frustrated with a youth-focused transfer approach and the dismissal of his pleas for more experience. Sound familiar?

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Xavi

Xavi is yet to return to management since leaving Barcelona. / Joan Valls/Urbanandsport/NurPhoto/Getty Images

Xavi finds himself lost in the grey area between project manager and a proven winner. Here we have an all-time great player with just over 200 games under his managerial belt, nearly half of which were in Qatar with Al Sadd, but also a former Barcelona boss who just so happened to win the 2022–23 La Liga title.

The 45-year-old has been out of work since the summer of 2024, having stepped down from his post in Catalonia because of the complications that come with being the Barça boss. He’s available immediately and may well be interested in one of the Premier League’s top jobs.

What makes Xavi so appealing is his record with young players—something of great importance to Chelsea. It was under Xavi that Lamine Yamal made his breakthrough and the boss deserves plenty of credit for nurturing the superstar winger’s ways, even if he was fortunate to be hand-fed a once-in-a-generation talent by the club’s esteemed academy coaches.

You get the sense that Xavi still has a lot to learn in management, even though he clearly has plenty of high-level experience. In reality, that may make him Chelsea’s dream candidate.

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