Rating Chelsea manager contenders and why Xabi Alonso comes out on top

Here we are again. Chelsea are searching for their fifth permanent head coach under the club’s BlueCo owners and have started work on identifying candidates.

As first reported by Telegraph Sport, Bournemouth’s Andoni Iraola, Fulham’s Marco Silva and out-of-work Xabi Alonso are among the coaches Chelsea will make contact with.

But how should Chelsea be identifying the best candidate and who best fits the criteria to be the next man in charge at Stamford Bridge?

Here, Telegraph Sport identifies five key areas for Chelsea to consider and scores Iraola, Silva and Alonso out of 5.

Collaboration

Let’s get the big one out of the way first. Chelsea have five sporting directors and at least one co-owner who takes a hands-on approach to the football side of the business. So any coach who wants full control can forget it. The next head coach will have to work with the sporting directors and be willing to be part of the decision-making process, rather than leading it. This is an area in which Iraola scores highly, given he has stated on numerous occasions that he has nothing to do with the recruitment and running of Bournemouth, and has never once complained about losing star players. Alonso worked closely and successfully with sporting director Simon Rolfes at Bayer Leverkusen and no head coach at Real Madrid can consider themselves in full control. But his experience in Spain will make him wary of his next project. Silva has not been afraid to speak his mind at Fulham, complaining about the club’s transfer business on more than one occasion. That might slightly count against the Portuguese, given Chelsea were less than impressed with some of Enzo Maresca’s public comments regarding transfers.

Iraola ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Silva ⭐⭐⭐

Alonso ⭐⭐⭐

Top-level experience

Chelsea want their next permanent head coach to have top-level experience. That means having worked or played in a top league or for a top club and, ideally, having experience of combining domestic and European football. These were areas in which sacked head coach Liam Rosenior and his staff were lacking, while Maresca was appointed having never coached in a top division. Iraola and Silva both have plenty of coaching experience in the Premier League, which will be attractive to Chelsea. Iraola has never coached a team in European competition, but he was a player at Athletic Bilbao and competed in both La Liga and the Europa League. Silva has coached in the Champions League with Olympiacos before moving to England and was also in charge of Sporting, with whom he won the Portuguese Cup. But things ended badly for Silva last time he took a big job in the Premier League with Everton. Alonso has plenty of top-level experience as both a player, with Liverpool, Real Bayern Munich and Spain, and a coach. He won the World Cup and the Champions League twice as a player and took Bayer Leverkusen to the final of the Europa League.

Iraola ⭐⭐⭐

Silva ⭐⭐⭐

Alonso ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Communication

Chelsea head coaches must be able to deal with the egos of their players and also the demands of the outside media. This was something that overwhelmed Rosenior, while Maresca could never quite get the balance right between being popular with his players and striking the right tone with the press. Iraola, Silva and Alonso would all be able to communicate well with Chelsea’s Spanish and Portuguese speakers. They were evidently upset to see the departure of Maresca, who was able to communicate with them in Spanish. Iraola and Silva are popular with their players, but Alonso, according to reports, struggled to come to terms with the Real Madrid dressing room. Alonso would have no problems dealing with the media attention that comes with being Chelsea head coach and would give the club some star quality. Silva is an assured, if sometimes prickly, speaker, while Iraola is not somebody who creates headlines with his words but can be considered a safe pair of hands.

Iraola ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Silva ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Alonso ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Trophy record

This is what Chelsea fans who still long for the Roman Abramovich days will rate highly among their list of criteria. The club used to be synonymous with hiring trophy-winning managers and doing so now might help calm some of the dissenting voices towards the current owners. Iraola really falls down in this area, both as a player and a coach. A Cypriot Cup while playing for Larnaca is unlikely to convince supporters that Iraola knows how to win silverware, although it is understandable he is yet to do so as a coach given the size of the clubs he has been in charge of. Silva fares slightly better, having won the Greek Super League with Olympiacos, the Portuguese Cup in charge of Sporting and the Championship title with Fulham. But the way in which Silva tossed away the chance of an FA Cup run with Fulham this season still annoys Craven Cottage regulars. Alonso’s trophy-winning record speaks for itself, both as a player and a coach. Winning the Bundesliga with Bayer Leverkusen was a phenomenal achievement and Enzo Fernández would no longer be the only World Cup winner at Chelsea if Alonso was appointed.

Iraola ⭐

Silva ⭐⭐

Alonso ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Style of play

Chelsea will choose a permanent head coach who they believe can produce a style of football that suits the current squad and satisfies their desire for the team to be dominant and entertaining. Iraola’s Bournemouth team are high-energy and maximum chaos, which is exciting to watch but can bring about wild swings of form. He has, however, proved himself to be adaptable when losing star players such as Antoine Semenyo. The fact that Iraola seems to have thrived by being the underdog may be of slight concern to a club such as Chelsea. Silva is tactically astute, as most recently proved by Fulham’s 1-0 victory over Aston Villa at the weekend. The Portuguese strikes a balance between pragmatism and giving someone like Harry Wilson the licence to entertain. But, like Iraola, Silva does not have much recent experience of coaching a team that is expected to be dominant and faces opponents who are willing to sit deep. Alonso favoured three at the back at Bayer Leverkusen, where it paid off spectacularly. He adapted that approach to move to four at the back at Real Madrid, but the results did not follow. He does, however, know the demands of a big club who want to dominate the ball and break down low blocks.

Iraola ⭐⭐⭐

Silva ⭐⭐⭐

Alonso ⭐⭐⭐

How they rated

Alonso 20⭐s

Iraola 16⭐s

Silva 15⭐s

Alonso’s top-level and trophy-winning experience, both as a player and a coach, put him ahead of Iraola on a total of 20 points. That’s four more than Iraola, who finished just ahead of Silva on 16. The big question marks over Alonso are, most crucially, would he be interested in the Chelsea job? And is he damaged at all from his Real Madrid experience? They are both unknowns at the moment and will be crucial to Chelsea’s process. Iraola’s collaborative approach will be hugely appealing to the Blues, but some may argue that too much importance was placed on that criteria when hiring Rosenior. Silva would feel like a very safe appointment, but would it bring the promise of Chelsea really fighting for the biggest prizes? There is clearly much for the club to think about.

Who else might score highly?

Iraola, Alonso and Silva are just three of the candidates who are under consideration by Chelsea, with other names thought to be in the frame at this early stage. Former Chelsea midfielder Cesc Fàbregas is working miracles at Como and would clearly score well in all of the categories listed. The only gamble around the Spaniard would be that he is still in his first coaching job. Newcastle manager Eddie Howe has also been mentioned as someone who should be considered by Sky pundit and Chelsea fan Paul Merson. The way in which Newcastle have now twice struggled to combine European and domestic competition under Howe would be a big concern. Stuttgart coach Sebastian Hoeness is somebody Chelsea have looked at in the past. He lacks some top-level experience, but has won the German Cup as a coach. Italian reports have linked Antonio Conte with a stunning return to Stamford Bridge. That idea might fall down at the collaboration stage.

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