Chelsea and Brighton & Hove Albion are seemingly in a battle for Ipswich Town’s Kieran McKenna.
With Mauricio Pochettino leaving Chelsea and Roberto De Zerbi departing Brighton, both clubs are looking for a new manager.
The former departed Stamford Bridge on Tuesday despite a strong finish to the season.
Following five consecutive wins, Chelsea managed to finish sixth and qualify for European football.
However, both parties still decided to part ways, Pochettino agreeing to leave by mutual consent. Leicester City’s Enzo Maresca has since been linked with the Chelsea job and Fabrizio Romano has revealed that the Italian has a release clause set at around £7m.
Who is going to win the race for Kieran McKenna?
Chelsea are one of the biggest clubs in the world, will be competing in Europe next season and are rich.
Going there could be too good of an opportunity to turn down.
Yet that is exactly what McKenna, who has been described as “sensational” by Liverpool legend John Barnes, could be about to do.
According to The Times, Brighton are confident that they can beat Chelsea to the 38-year-old and are now expected to make a formal approach for him.
It would leave their Premier League rivals needing to turn to Maresca or someone else like De Zerbi, for example.
Which club should Kieran McKenna join, Brighton or Chelsea?
It is too early for McKenna to join a club such as Chelsea. Therefore, for the sake of his career, he really should be choosing Brighton.
There, he can get more experience and see what the Premier League is really like as a manager without being under the kind of pressure he would have to deal with at Stamford Bridge.
If that goes well, then McKenna should consider one of the country’s top clubs.
The Chelsea job is one that comes around quite often, with Todd Boehly and Behdad Eghbali looking for yet another permanent manager after sacking Thomas Tuchel and Graham Potter and now parting ways Pochettino. A young and promising coach like McKenna does not have to be in a rush to take the Chelsea vacancy today.