Chelsea announced Enzo Maresca as their new manager on Monday.
However, it looks like another coach could have beaten him to the Chelsea job.
In the end, the Blues have gone for Enzo Maresca, who comes in to replace Mauricio Pochettino.
Pochettino only joined the club last summer but decided to part ways with his employers last month.
Following his exit, Chelsea were linked with several managers, including the likes of Brentford’s Thomas Frank and Ipswich Town’s Kieran McKenna.
Who was Enzo Maresca’s main rival for the Chelsea job?
Maresca did not get a free run at the Chelsea gig.
As per The Athletic, there were a few candidates for the job that Chelsea considered, such as Frank.
The same outlet actually claims that the Dane came close to succeeding in the battle to replace Pochettino in the Stamford Bridge dugout.
However, their report states that he lost out because of his brand of football, with his style seen as more defensive.
Nevertheless, Frank has still done well at Chelsea’s west London rivals Brentford. Former Tottenham Hotspur goalkeeper Paul Robinson thinks he has done an “excellent job” overall.
Should Chelsea have chosen Enzo Maresca over Thomas Frank?
Frank has Premier League experience over Maresca, but it is true that he does not play the most exciting style of football at Brentford.
For example, the Bees were in the bottom half of the table for shots per game this season, averaging 12.4, according to WhoScored.
At Chelsea with better players, Frank probably would have got his team firing at the goal more frequently than that.
Nevertheless, it is still one stat that suggests that the 50-year-old would not have be an exciting appointment for the Blues.
The pressure is now on not only for Maresca to win games at Chelsea, but to win them in style. After Frank’s snub, it has become even more obvious what the higher-ups at Stamford Bridge want from Pochettino’s successor.