Ornstein rules Prem boss out of Chelsea running as Sporting chief reveals Amorim delight

Brighton boss Roberto de Zerbi is not in the running to become the new Chelsea manager, according to The Athletic journalist David Ornstein.

after the board took the decision to sack Graham Potter following the Blues’ 2-0 loss to Aston Villa at the weekend.

Potter won just 12 of his 31 matches in charge with the defeat against Unai Emery’s side seeing Chelsea drop into the bottom half of the Premier League.

There has been some sympathy for Potter with the former Brighton boss tasked with gelling 17 new signings into the side after Chelsea spent almost £600m on players over the last two transfer windows.

De Zerbi has carried on Potter’s great job at Brighton and even taken them to new levels with the Italian one of the first names linked to the vacant Chelsea job.

But Ornstein has written in The Athletic that De Zerbi is ‘not in the running to be the next manager of Chelsea’ and ‘is not one of those being considered’.

Ornstein adds:

‘The Chelsea hierarchy hold Tony Bloom and Paul Barber at Brighton in the highest esteem but De Zerbi does not fit the profile they are looking for.

‘The process of appointing a long-term replacement for Potter is underway.

‘The search is being led by the club’s co-sporting directors Laurence Stewart and Paul Winstanley, before a decision is ultimately made by co-owners Todd Boehly and Behdad Eghbali.’

and the Portuguese club’s president Frederico Varandas is “very happy” to see the coach linked to top clubs like Chelsea.

“Yes, I count on Amorim, he has a contract signed until 2026. Even before coming here I saw that he is on the list of another European shark,” Varandas told Sporting TV.

“I’m very happy. Amorim for me, I already said, is one of the best in the world, he made Sporting grow a lot in the quality of the game. I have to appreciate what I have and not fear that I will lose this or that.”

Former Manchester United defender Gary Neville thinks former Tottenham boss Mauricio Pochettino is the man for the job.

“Based on what Boehly has said, Chelsea have done their spending for the next three years – apart from signing a centre forward,” Neville told Sky Sports’ Monday Night Football.

“They’ve got to appoint a manager who is going to inherit and like the squad that they’ve got, a lot of them are young, and I think that man is Mauricio Pochettino.”