After several relatively sleepy years on the managerial marketplace -- Chelsea and Bayern Munich aside -- the months ahead are shaping up to be the most intriguing the coaching profession has seen in some time. Three prime opportunities have already emerged at Liverpool, Bayern Munich and Barcelona while speculation abounds over possible vacancies at Juventus, AC Milan, Manchester United and Chelsea.
To add to the intrigue, the pool of candidates is a little more fluid than it has been in the past. The true managerial titans are either locked up, or in Jurgen Klopp's case, they are looking forward to a well earned break. Meanwhile, the Premier League's gravitational force sucks in enough coaching talent that 14th placed Crystal Palace can acquire themselves a coach who has won European silverware. There are, however, options out there who have long set tongues wagging and could be due a big leap. Here we assess some of those names.
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Roberto De Zerbi
Perhaps the most fascinating manager that could be on the market this summer, not least because Roberto De Zerbi was being pronounced as the next man up to one of Europe's top jobs within a few weeks of settling into the Brighton dugout. In results terms there is not an overwhelming case to be made for the Seagulls having come on leaps and bounds under him. The season before he arrived, Graham Potter had led them to ninth in the Premier League. When he took the helm Brighton were fourth in a very formative table, they would end the season sixth and during his tenure they have the eighth most points. By non-penalty expected goal (npxG) difference they have been the fifth best side in the top flight, comfortably clear of Manchester United and just behind Newcastle United.
Even that is not what makes De Zerbi such an intriguing option for the best jobs. In playing style and his management off the pitch, the 44-year-old is one of a kind. Here is a coach who saw the guts ripped out of his team in the summer when Chelsea and Liverpool snared his star midfielders but who has responded by digging ever deeper into his squad. Plenty of managers talk about how much they admire their depth at the goalkeeper position, some even intimate they'd be prepared to chop and change in that position. De Zerbi, however, has rotated between the posts so much that one couldn't say for certain who is first choice between Jason Steele and Bart Verbruggen.
In the outfield, as well, the Italian is aggressive in his rotation as Brighton compete in the Premier League and Europa League. An awful lot of players get meaningful minutes. By way of comparison, a club in a similar position -- competing in the top half domestically while balancing Europe's second tier competition -- West Ham have a full 11 of players with over 2,000 minutes to Brighton's five. Only five Hammers have played between 600 and 1,999 minutes, for De Zerbi that number is 19. If he is to take the helm at one of Europe's elite clubs a willingness to deploy so many players augurs well.
What is more intriguing is how his style fits. In his favor is how quickly Brighton players -- talented and technically assured but hardly universally world class -- grasped what was asked of them. They would keep the ball, searching for gaps in the opposition rearguard while working to bait a press that they could play through. Since De Zerbi's appointment, only Manchester City have more touches, more possession, more passes per attacking sequence than Brighton. No one in the Premier League makes more touches in the defensive half of the pitch and no team averages fewer solo possessions. When it clicks, as in a memorable Leandro Trossard goal against West Ham early in the manager's reign, it is a feast for neutrals. When it goes wrong, disaster awaits. Any time, any way Brighton will try to play out. When Luton smashed them 4-0 at Kenilworth Road they recovered possession they set traps for their opponents by pushing them into the corners, challenging them to play their way around big strong bodies. Arsenal similarly outmuscled De Zerbi's system in a 2-0 win at the Emirates Stadium, one that was more emphatic than the score suggests.
At the best and brightest there might be other issues thrown up by this system. If De Zerbi were to take the helm at Barcelona, for instance, what would he do when Celta Vigo or Las Palmas rolled up to the Camp Nou and simply said "you can pass the ball around for 90 minutes if you like, we aren't leaving our low block?" When Brighton aren't pressed they can get gummed up quite quickly -- they have lost only two of 17 Premier League games where they have completed over 20 long passes, taking points from Manchester City and Liverpool in some of the others.
We will surely find out soon enough how De Zerbi would settle in. In February he said: "I would like, in my career, to compete to win the Premier League, Serie A, Bundesliga, La Liga, Champions League, but there isn't a time when you have to go and compete, or to wait some more time." Despite his public comments the Italian is understood to privately believe the Premier League to be the league for him, though there are those who believe that a member of Europe's true elite could whisk him away.
Where does he fit: Barcelona, Bayern Munich, Liverpool, Manchester United
Xabi Alonso
The coach on everyone's lips, it had long been viewed as a matter of when not if Xabi Alonso took the helm at at least one of three of his former clubs: Real Madrid, Liverpool and Bayern Munich. Few would have expected the opportunity to come around so soon when Alonso took the reigns at Bayer Leverkusen in October 2022. A team hovering too near the Bundesliga trap door has been transformed into a dynasty killer, Neverkusen reborn as Neverlosin'.
Tactically you can see the hallmarks of Leverkusen in their manager. They are patient, their 710 sequences of nine-plus passes is more than double the Bundesliga average, Alonso deploying what might constitute an extremist idea in recent German domestic football: treating possession as an end in itself rather than a means for more transitions. In a manner reflective of the Spanish national teams with which he won the World Cup and European Championships, Leverkusen are patient and defensively solid -- Alonso's first task on appointment was tightening a talented but leaky backline -- but they do have a greater attacking thrust thanks to their devastating wing backs. Jeremie Frimpong flies down one wing, Alejandro Grimaldo flits around the other, both with the aim of dragging defenses wide enough that there is space for Florian Wirtz and Jonas Hoffmann to attack.
His is a style that maps more favorably onto the current iteration of Bayern than Liverpool, though the latter have the personnel to become a more possession-oriented outfit. Anyway, Alonso is young enough in his coaching career that his ideas have not become dogma. Those who know the Spaniard well say that he does not have quite as many fixed demands in terms of position and shape as other coaches though he is known to favor a double pivot in midfield. Certainly, he has shown an ability to adapt his selection and systems for the biggest games; his decision to drop Frimpong for Josip Stanisic and sit his wing backs deeper set the stage for a star-making triumph.
If Alonso wants the Bayern job it is there for him. Whether that is quite as true with Liverpool is not clear given that they have only just established their new hierarchy around Michael Edwards and Richard Hughes. The former appears to be the safer bet, take a side that would be German champions in most years that this Leverkusen weren't around and tidy up the loose ends around midfield and full back.
At Anfield, much of the rebuilding work has been done by Klopp, but sooner or later Virgil van Dijk and Mohamed Salah will either diminish or leave. Alonso might be able to deal with that, but how does a studious, considered coach fill the emotional void left by what feels to many Liverpool fans to be the departure of a family member. Klopp did it all at Liverpool: another European Cup, ending the wait for a league title, giving a club its groove back. You wouldn't want to be the guy to follow the guy.
Where does he fit: Liverpool, Bayern Munich
Ruben Amorim
Another coach whose name frequently features in speculation over who could take the helm at top sides, Ruben Amorim is on course to lead Sporting CP to their second Portuguese title in four years, an impressive feat at a club that had not previously lifted the Primeira Liga trophy since 2002. Success has also come in Europe, where Sporting reached the Champions League knockout rounds in 2021-22 and took four points from Tottenham the following season.
Amorim's back three system is a particularly intriguing facet of Sporting's success, his central center back used less as a sweeper than a libero, free to step upfield to offer angles and outlet balls for his other defenders and goalkeepers. This season in particular, Sporting have deployed a center forward in Viktor Gyokores who can function as their concertina, stretching play with runs in behind in one attack before dropping deep to link with two narrow inside forwards.
Out of possession, Sporting are a strong side in the press, consistently averaging around seven passes per defensive action in the Primeira Liga. In the Champions League, however, that number more than doubled, something which speaks to the big question over Amorim. It is the same as with almost anyone, player or otherwise, who leaves Portugal for a top four league. How do you translate performances, tactics and styles to competitions that generally have much higher baselines than the Primeira Liga? Jose Mourinho and Angel Di Maria are among those to have proven it can be done, but there is precious little an 8-0 win over Casa Pia tells us as to how he would fare against Bournemouth, let alone Barcelona.
Where does he fit: Liverpool, Manchester United, Chelsea, Barcelona
Thomas Tuchel
Thomas Tuchel will leave Bayern Munich this season with his reputation for coaching excellence somewhat quelled by his status as the man at the helm when the title streak was ended at 11. Should he really take the blame though? After all this current team are tracking at 78 point pace, the last team other than Bayern to hit that mark were Tuchel's Borussia Dortmund in 2015-16. Through 26 games the Bavarians have a ludicrous non-penalty xG difference of 50.4, by far and away the best in Europe's top four leagues. To some extent, Tuchel has merely been unfortunate that his own team have had moments of sloppiness that would have gone unpunished in any year other than this one with a potentially invincible Bayer Leverkusen.
Tuchel's brand of defensive possession would broadly fit well with any team, although his game may lack the manic intensity that would allow him to follow Klopp once more. For the 50 year old there are greater questions over his character than his results, a year of complaining about the Bayern midfield only heightening the fractious atmosphere on Saberner Strasse. Few teams who have employed him before seem that desperate to bring him back, but one does wonder if Todd Boehly and Behdad Eghbali might see the errors of their ways or identify a potential quick win with supporters who never really got over losing their Champions League winning manager.
Where does he fit: Bayern Munich, Chelsea, Barcelona
Julian Nagelsmann
On the subject of coaches harshly treated by Bayern, it took only 10 defeats in 84 games for coaching wunderkind Nagelsmann to be cast to the side. The 36-year-old delivered exceptional results in the Champions League before being given the boot by the Bavarians, who might reflect having lost so many good coaches of late that the problems they have might not be in the dugout.
Stylistically, it is easy to see why Nagelsmann might appeal to Liverpool; at their best his sides have been top tier practitioners of gegenpressing and always looked to have the extra mile in them in the same fashion that Klopp's have done throughout his tenure. More so than most coaches he tends not to have a settled 11 for the biggest games and is not particularly tied to one system over the other, though he does tend to default to a 4-2-2-2. Nagelsmann likes to tailor his approach to the opponent, something which may not work that well if he is thrust into leagues as manic as the Premier League.
Really, though, it won't be his tactics or even some of his more curious off-field actions -- skateboarding to training, anyone? -- that might quell the market for Nagelsmann this summer. As a long term career move, picking up a German national side on its knees ahead of a home Euros was a shrewd decision to buttress his reputation. A semifinal berth or better and the former Hoffenheim and RB Leipzig boss will be back on everyone's lips again, but perhaps not for this summer. Everyone will remember the Louis van Gaal factor, a big side stumbling out of the blocks because their manager was busy at an international tournament. After all, Nagelsmann is so young that neither he nor his suitors need to rush him through the door.
Where does he fit: Liverpool, Bayern Munich
Antonio Conte
If there is still a sense that Nagelsmann's best years are ahead of him it is hard to quell the idea that Antonio Conte's might have been and gone. He may have got a rise from Tottenham in year one, but his exit was so combustible that it is hard to see many in the Premier League rushing to get him through the door. In Italy, however, his standing has not been quite so tarnished and the man who has won titles with two of the big three may well get the chance to finish the set if Stefano Pioli leaves AC Milan this summer.
Certainly you could see the fit on the field, Theo Hernandez would surely relish the chance to develop under Conte in the same way that wing backs of superstar pedigree (Achraf Hakimi, Ivan Perisic) and otherwise (Marcos Alonso, Victor Moses) have. Milan's questions will be the same that Tottenham, Inter and Chelsea have had in recent years: are the results worth the grief? That would particularly be the case for Milan, whose desire to build a young squad with sell on value could not clash more dramatically with a manager who will demand constant investment in experience. It is as if Conte wants to be in the world of absolute managerial authority, one which perhaps does not exist anymore.
Where does he fit: Nowhere, but someone with aspirations will appoint him
Graham Potter
Like a few others on this list, being sacked by Chelsea has not particularly damaged Graham Potter's standing, perhaps even more so given that the club looks even more unmanageable after Roman Abramovich than it did during his sack first, ask questions later ownership. Potter has taken his time, rejecting interest from Leicester and Lyon as he waits for the right job. Could that be Manchester United? Since Sir Jim Ratcliffe got hold of footballing operations at Old Trafford, Potter's name has been consistently linked with the job should Erik ten Hag be moved out.
Across multiple leagues, Potter's approach has proven to be chameleonic beyond the basics he articulated early in his Chelsea tenure. "I want a tactically flexible, possession-based team," he said in September 2022. "Players who are brave, who aren't afraid to make mistakes, who can get on the ball and show courage and really try to enjoy their football." Given time at Brighton his side were able to get vertical with the ball and pressed aggressively without it. At Swansea there was far less of that, a more steady, defensive possession approach that he ultimately gravitated towards amid the tumult at Stamford Bridge.
Style of football is perhaps eclipsed in Potter's vision by his management of his players. It is why it always seemed so perverse for Chelsea to outfit him with a squad that was literally too big for its dressing room, how could he motivate players who he couldn't see? It is what might make the 48 year old such an intriguing hire at United. Make no mistake, there are tactical and technical issues amid the mess around the grand old institution but successive managers have had no answer for a group of players who cannot be relied upon for consistency, who all too frequently appear to be throwing the towel in. If Potter were to fix that then he might not have to do too much to set United back on the right path.
Where does he fit: Manchester United
