Chelsea players are mentally fatigued by Maurizio Sarri's regime, with his over-detailed training sessions identified as one of the reasons for their swift decline in the last six weeks, and the manager is likely to be sacked if the club are heavily defeated by Manchester City in the Carabao Cup final.
Thomas Tuchel, the coach at Paris Saint-Germain, has been suggested by one intermediary used by the club as next year's replacement but PSG will not allow their coach to go unless they want to replace him.
Zinedine Zidane seems less likely, given the nature of the job, which essentially requires rebuilding the squad while under a one-year transfer ban, imposed by FIFA on Friday for breaking rules in recruiting youth players from overseas.