Scott Minto has been speaking about one manager who has been linked to Chelsea.
Chelsea have been searching for a new manager following Mauricio Pochettino‘s exit last week and seem to have found their man.
The Blues have identified Leicester City’s Enzo Maresca as their No.1 target to replace Pochettino, it has been claimed.
Maresca only joined Leicester last summer, helping them to win promotion back to the Premier League this season.
However, it looks like he will already be off before the start of the new campaign.
Scott Minto on another manager Chelsea considered
At one point, it was thought that Chelsea had a four-man shortlist of managers who could replace Pochettino.
On top of Maresca, Kieran McKenna, Thomas Frank and Roberto De Zerbi were all said to have been on it.
Minto, however, does not think De Zerbi would have even lasted 12 months had he been appointed.
Speaking on talkSPORT, the former Chelsea defender said: “Can you imagine De Zerbi working with the Chelsea hierarchy right now? He [wouldn’t] accept it or get past the interview because [the board] would say, ‘We can’t have this guy because he won’t let us do what we want to do’.
“Two, he wouldn’t last a year. I think a lot of Chelsea fans will be thinking, ‘Do you know what? We want a ready-made world-class manager’ which is what they had under the [Roman] Abramovich era.
“The problem is, that’s not the way they’re going to go and a ready-made world-class manager is not going to accept the terms and conditions, it’s as simple as that. I think it will be Maresca.”
Would Roberto De Zerbi have lasted at Chelsea?
Like Pochettino, De Zerbi also left his club by mutual consent at the end of the season.
Clearly, there were some disagreements or perhaps tension between the Italian and his superiors at the Amex Stadium.
When you consider that, it is not hard to imagine De Zerbi falling out with the Chelsea board.
Still, the 44-year-old could have been a good appointment for the Blues. Whatever happened behind the scenes, he still did a good job at Brighton.
Under him, the Seagulls were able to finish sixth in the Premier League last season and qualify for the Champions League. With a better squad at Chelsea, he perhaps could have done something special.
In the past, Pep Guardiola has described both De Zerbi and his team as “unique”.