Chelsea ‘choose’ Andoni Iraola as Bournemouth boss gives ‘priority’ after BlueCo ‘seduction’ | OneFootball

Chelsea have ‘chosen’ Andoni Iraola to be their next permanent manager and the Bournemouth boss has given his ‘priority’ to the move after being ‘seduced’ by the BlueCo project, according to reports.

BlueCo announced the club had ‘parted company’ with Liam Rosenior on Wednesday after the Blues lost five consecutive Premier League games without scoring a goal.

With Chelsea now seven points off Liverpool and Champions League qualification in fifth, and with the FA Cup semi-final with Leeds coming on Sunday, Calum McFarlane will return for a second interim stint of the season.

Journalist Ben Jacobs name-checked ten managers, including Julian Nagelsmann, Iraola and Luis Enrique as he detailed the Chelsea process for finding a new manager.

Our friends at TEAMtalk report that Al-Ahli boss Matthias Jaissle has also emerged as a surprise candidate, with ‘groundwork already carried out’ on the 38-year-old former RB Salzburg boss.

BlueCo vowed to ‘undertake a process of self-reflection to make the right long-term appointment’ in the club statement revealing Rosenior’s departure from the club.

It’s been an extraordinary speedy process according to a report in Spain which claims they have already ‘chosen’ Iraola as their next permanent boss.

The Blues bosses believe the 43-year-old, who will be a free agent in the summer after turning down contract extension offers from Bournemouth, ‘fits perfectly’ with their project and they’re ‘confident that the Basque coach’s methodology will be able to reactivate a young squad that has shown obvious symptoms of mental block’.

More surprising is Iraola supposedly being ‘seduced’ by said project, with the report adding that he has ‘given priority’ to Chelsea over alternative options, inducing a ‘romantic return’ to Athletic Club.

He ‘intends to stay on British soil’ and ‘the future of the Basque coach points directly to London’.

A 2-2 draw with Leeds on Wednesday lifted Bournemouth above Chelsea into seventh place in the Premier League but Iraola refused to be drawn on speculation over a move to the Blues after the game.

When asked whether he would be open to speaking with Chelsea, he replied: “No, I think I said it when I announced I was not continuing here. For me, now, it’s about Bournemouth.

“Four games. We have an incredible position, (an) incredible fight (ahead).

“(This) past week, you were asking me about other clubs. I don’t know exactly which ones, but also, as a sign of respect for Bournemouth, I cannot talk right now about my future because it’s not what worries the Bournemouth supporters.”