Ranking the 6 biggest jobs available this summer by how appealing they are: Chelsea 6th, Man Utd 4th… | OneFootball

We can’t remember a summer in which so many big clubs around Europe were on the hunt for a new manager.

Given that, it’s perfectly conceivable that we find ourselves in a situation in which the likes of Chelsea, Manchester United and Real Madrid are doing battle to attract the same manager. That raises an obvious question: which of these jobs would top a manager’s wish list?

We’ve taken a closer look at six of the big jobs that’ll be available in the summer and ranked them on how appealing they ought to be.

6. Chelsea

Where to start?

You imagine any serious manager looks at how BlueCo have been running Chelsea for the past four years and has major reservations about going anywhere near them.

For example, Cesc Fabregas has worked wonders at Como and is widely regarded as one of the most promising young coaches in Europe. He has history at Stamford Bridge, of course, but surely he’ll look at how things went Graham Potter and Liam Rosenior and leave Todd Boehly’s calls unanswered. Taking the job is arguably the worst decision he could make for his long-term career prospects.

Enzo Maresca and Mauricio Pochettino, you’d think, will be counting their lucky stars that they got out when they did.

5. Crystal Palace

Bournemouth moved swiftly to announce the appointment of Marco Rose after confirmation that Andoni Iraola will leave when his contract runs out at the end of the season.

Palace have done no such thing, and for months we’ve been in the dark over who will be succeeding Oliver Glasner. Robbie Keane, Gareth Southgate and journeyman coach Roger Schmidt are among some of the more leftfield names linked.

Whoever takes the job will have the solid platform of a stable, well-run Premier League club – one that might even offer Europa League football should they go all the way in the Conference League.

Glasner’s standing has been enhanced by doing a great job and delivering silverware at Palace, and in recent times we’ve seen the likes of Graham Potter, Mauricio Pochettino and Thomas Frank use similarly mid-ranking clubs as a stepping stone towards a more high-profile gig.

Selhurst Park would be the perfect place for Frank to rehabilitate his reputation, come to think of it.

4. Manchester United

Michael Carrick, in many ways, has done the perfect job. He’s leading the club back into the Champions League, but he hasn’t done spectacularly well enough for there to be any great clamour, Solskjaer-style, for him to get the job permanently.

There are a lot of high-profile candidates on the market this summer, including some very promising and exciting coaches trending upwards, such as Andoni Iraola.

But like Chelsea – albeit a bit less of a basket case – every high-profile appointment that Manchester United have made since Sir Alex Ferguson has come out of Old Trafford with their reputations diminished – from David Moyes to Jose Mourinho to Erik ten Hag to Ruben Amorim.

Still, you imagine that there’ll be a certain lustre to being the man to deliver Manchester United’s first league title in a generation.

An ultra-competitive coach like Luis Enrique would surely back himself to bring the club back to its former glories, and he continues to resist signing a contract extension with PSG.

But Luis Enrique represents the absolute best-case scenario, and there’s no suggestion that he’s going to walk away from the Parisiens before his current deal expires in 2027.

3. Liverpool*

*TBC

In fairness, it’s looking increasingly likely that Liverpool won’t have a slot to fill in the summer. No pun intended.

The Reds have Chelsea’s historic meltdown to thank for their mediocre league form going unpunished. Getting into the Champions League is the top priority, and Arne Slot still has some credit in the bank for delivering a league title. Tough luck with injuries is mitigation for a disappointing season, too.

However, we can certainly see a scenario in which Slot soldiers on and makes an unconvincing start to next season before being given his marching orders in the Autumn, Brendan Rodgers style, if he continues to fail to solve Liverpool’s problems.

Whether someone else can do better is an open question. Era-defining talisman Mohamed Salah has left, veteran club captain Virgil van Dijk is unlikely to have much longer at the top, and we’re still trying to work out how the pieces of this new-look Liverpool team fit together.

There’s hundreds of millions of pounds worth of potential in this squad. Can someone realise it? And will waiting until next season cost them the next Klopp?

2. Real Madrid

It’s looking like two successive seasons without major silverware for Los Blancos. The last time that happened, in 2010, they went and got Jose Mourinho – a Galactico coach for a Galactico squad.

There’s no obvious equivalent of prime Mourinho in 2026. Jurgen Klopp, maybe, but he’s not a natural fit. Pep Guardiola isn’t going to happen for obvious reasons. Carlo Ancelotti won’t be doing a third stint, seemingly content in the semi-retirement of the international game. There continue to be whisperings over a Mourinho return.

This is a dysfunctional, unbalanced squad. Unlike when they had the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo, Karim Benzema and Gareth Bale, they no longer possess the strong foundations for the world-beater superstar forwards to make a difference.

They’ve been left eating Barcelona’s dust domestically, their Champions League eliminations to Arsenal and Bayern Munich exposed their flaws, and the dressing room appears extremely difficult to manage.

All of that may be true. But it’s Real Madrid. And when Real Madrid call, you answer.

1. Manchester City*

*TBC

“I’m not even sure he’s hiding it at this point”, tweeted The Athletic‘s Manchester City correspondent Sam Lee in reaction to some fresh quotes from Pep Guardiola back in March.

“I will miss not going to Camp Nou, I’ll miss Bayern Munich – hopefully we can go through and go there – and I will miss that, when I stop and retire. I will miss these nights because they are so special,” Guardiola told TNT Sports.

“I’ll miss Selhurst Park as well, I love it. Premier League, these stadiums. I will miss, but Fulham, Crystal Palace, Goodison Park – these stadiums are one of the reasons I adore England, I adore the Premier League, for these kind of- FA Cup! Against League One [teams]… I like a lot!

“But one day it will be over, right?”

That kind of wistful nostalgia, while actually still in the post – and contracted until 2027 – certainly suggests that the Catalan coach is thinking about life after Manchester City.

If he can lead City to a seventh Premier League title, and potentially a second domestic treble, that’ll be the perfect way to sign off a decade of dominance, surely?

Speculation about the era-defining coach’s future has quietened a bit as attention has turned to the knife-edge nature of the title race, but we still expect there to be a vacancy in the summer.

Bayern and Barcelona were in a great place to continue lifting trophies after Guardiola departed, and – 115 charges aside – there’s no reason the same shouldn’t be true of Manchester City.

The most expensively assembled squad and a mammoth wage bill gives City an enormous competitive advantage, regardless of whether or not they have the best manager in world football in their dugout.

Talks with Enzo Maresca are established. But Xabi Alonso is also said to be on their shortlist. Liverpool might be forced to act quick if they want a romantic reunion with the one-time Kop hero.