is travelling to London with his agent to hold further talks with after impressing the club’s hierarchy in initial discussions, according to reports.
The west London club sacked on Sunday evening and have immediately begun the search for a new manager, with both and Enrique .
More coaches were expected to be spoken to over the next 48 hours – including the likes of Mauricio Pochettino and Ruben Amorim – while there were suggestions ex-boss Frank Lampard before a permanent manager is appointed in the summer.
But Chelsea do not appear to be hanging around and would ideally like a new manager installed before next week’s Champions League quarter-final first-leg clash with Real Madrid.
According to , former Spain boss Enrique – who is keen to take over now – is edging ahead as the favourite to succeed Potter and is en route to London to hold face-to-face talks with the club’s hierarchy.
The 52-year-old – who is being joined by his agent, Ivan De La Pena – impressed in initial talks and is said to have ‘successfully sold a clear vision for the team’.
Enrique feels his high-intensity, high-pressing approach fits the squad Chelsea have assembled, while the Spaniard’s personality and gravitas fits the profile of manager Todd Boehly and Behdad Eghbali want.
There had been suggestions that technical director Christopher Vivell was pushing for Nagelsmann, who he worked with previously at RB Leipzig and has a good relationship with.
However, the manner in which the young German coach fell out with some of Bayern Munich’s senior players could count against him, with Boehly and Eghbali more drawn towards an experienced manager.
Enrique has that in abundance, having most recently been in charge of the Spain national team before leaving after the World Cup, while he worked with some of the biggest names in football during his very successful, treble-winning stint as Barcelona manager.
Chelsea had been interested in Enrique in the past prior to the change of ownership but were put off by his wage demands and lack of English, though he has been working hard on the language since then and is eager to test himself in the Premier League.
‘I would like to go to England to work,’ he said last week. ‘I would like to go to a team there that can do important things and that is very difficult. I would not go to any Premier League team.
‘Since the World Cup ended, I haven’t read the Spanish press. I haven’t seen social networks, I only read the English press.’
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