Chelsea move towards appointing Leicester boss Enzo Maresca as their new manager as talks accelerate, with sources saying Italian is new leading candidate, after one rival for the job got call to tell him he ‘hasn’t made it’

Chelsea are set to appoint Leicester boss Enzo Maresca as Mauricio Pochettino’s successor as talks accelerated this weekend.

The Italian is open to a move to Chelsea despite his promotion to the Premier League with the Foxes last season.

Mail Sport reported on Thursday that Chelsea have started holding formal interviews with candidates and multiple sources claim Maresca is the club’s leading contender to replace Pochettino, who left the club last week.

Kieran McKenna was a contender, but Brighton are trying to appoint him as Roberto De Zerbi’s successor.

As a courtesy and out of respect, Chelsea called Ipswich’s head coach last night to let him know that he had almost reached the final stages of their search but had not made it.

Ipswich manager Kieran McKenna was among those considered but has since dropped out of the race

The Blues continue to admire McKenna for the back-to-back promotions he achieved with the Tractor Boys.

McKenna is also interested from Manchester United, which will say goodbye to Erik ten Hag after an evaluation at the end of the season.

Brentford head coach Thomas Frank is another contender for the Chelsea job.

De Zerbi and Ruben Amorim are among the other managers the Blues are said to have considered during the process.

But the club’s desire to appoint a young, forward-thinking head coach who can grow with the team has seen Maresca, who worked under Pep Guardiola, become a key factor in Chelsea’s decision to move on from the highly regarded Italian.