Why is Nagelsmann out of the picture?
It’s complicated — this is Chelsea after all — and there are always two sides to the story.
There is no denying Nagelsmann was of interest to Chelsea. His reputation was established in Germany and it helped he had worked with Chelsea’s co-sporting director Laurence Stewart and
technical director Christopher Vivell earlier in his career when they were all at
RB Leipzig.
Having been sacked by Bayern in March, technically he is on gardening leave and is still being paid by the
Bundesliga champions, the German met Chelsea officials recently for an initial round of talks which were held outside England. The sense was that those discussions went well. There were plans for a second meet-up in London, though that did not materialise as Nagelsmann decided Chelsea were not right for him.
The 35-year-old ultimately had some doubts about the set-up he would be joining. He made the decision to pull out on Thursday — even if it took 24 hours for that to become public knowledge.
Is that how Chelsea saw the situation develop?
No. Sources connected to the club, who have spoken to
The Athleticon condition of anonymity to protect relationships, paint a rather different picture.
Chelsea have always made it clear this would be a thorough and exhaustive process. There is a determination not to rush the appointment in the same way they did when turning to
Brightoncoach Potter within 12 hours of
sacking Thomas Tuchel last September.
The circumstances at Chelsea are different this time around. Back then the club’s new co-owners, Todd Boehly and Behdad Eghbali, were overseeing the whole process. They had only completed their takeover three months previously and were still putting their own management structure in place at Stamford Bridge.
Now they have co-sporting directors Stewart and Paul Winstanley leading the hunt for a new coach, with their support.
So why has he gone from contender to out of the race completely?
Chelsea never regarded him as their first choice. There is a possibility Nagelsmann had the wrong impression that the club were going to make a swift appointment, and maybe read too much into being part of the interview process from the outset.
While his achievements in management are respected, Chelsea questioned why Bayern chose to dismiss him at such a key time in the season, less than three weeks before a
Champions Leaguequarter-final against
Manchester City and with a tough title race ongoing versus
Borussia Dortmund, who they faced in Tuchel’s first game in charge.
Chelsea are exploring each candidate’s leadership ability, how they would work within the current setup at the club, and assessing their ability as tacticians. There were concerns on all of these fronts with Nagelsmann.