Champions League-winning manager was ready to succeed Graham Potter at Chelsea

Luis Enrique was eager to become Chelsea manager following Graham Potter’s sacking

Luis Enrique was ready to take over as Chelsea manager, but the Spaniard felt disappointed by Todd Boehly’s choice of appointing Frank Lampard as interim manager.

Enrique felt moved to take over as manager of the Blues when Chelsea fired the former Swansea City manager as per AS, (h/t Daily Mail), despite the fact that Chelsea were not prepared to choose a permanent manager and instead chose to wait until the summer.

Graham Potter was ultimately fired by Chelsea after the Blues’ 2-0 loss to Aston Villa. They quickly began looking for his replacement, and Enrique promptly emerged as the most likely candidate.

However, Chelsea hired Lampard as a temporary manager until the completion of the current campaign as they felt they hadn’t yet found the right candidate to replace Potter at Chelsea.

Prior to Chelsea’s first-leg Champions League quarterfinal encounter against Real Madrid, Luis Enrique, who departed as manager of the Spanish national team after guiding them to the Euro 2020 semifinal and UEFA Nations League final, was driven to take command for Chelsea.

In addition, two days after Potter was fired, he spoke with Chelsea’s management via video chat and flew to London to present his views. The UEFA Champions League winner with Barcelona in the 2014-15 season certainly had the credentials to become a high-profile hire for the west London giants.

Although it was known Chelsea desired more time to select the right replacement, Lampard was chosen as the team’s temporary manager until the end of the current campaign. However, his hiring has been another disaster for the Blues as an interim manager, and Lampard has lost his first three matches.

Given that he offered his ideas and even made a movie called Chelsea’s Board, Enrique appears to have been very keen to take over Chelsea. The managerial seat at Stamford Bridge would have certainly been a big return to club management for Enrique.

It’s also always a good thing for a new manager if he comes in and doesn’t have very high standards to match. Potter faced immense pressure here because Thomas Tuchel did pretty well before him. Enrique wouldn’t have a lot riding on his shoulders here, although he would have still been expected to guide us to the top four if he became our new manager.

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It remains to be seen if he is still one of the options for the club in the summer. If they wanted to hire him, they probably would have when they had the chance. Nevertheless, Lampard’s terrible spell here could make the club realise they perhaps made a mistake. Enrique should still be in the running for the job here.