Chelsea sound out Atletico Madrid boss Diego Simeone as long term Mourinho replacement

Chelsea have held talks Diego Simeone to replace Jose Mourinho since November
 

CHELSEA have been in talks with Atletico Madrid manager Diego Simeone for the past month after targeting the Argentinian as Jose Mourinho’s successor.

 

Former Holland boss Guus Hiddink has agreed to become Stamford Bridge interim manager for the second time while owner Roman Abramovich plans for the long term future.

Abramovich knows that any move for much wanted man, Pep Guardiola, is doomed to failure with Manchester City well down the path to appointing the Bayern Munich boss in the summer.

The Russian oligarch has already suffered one failure in his attempt to bring Guardiola to West London when it became known the Spaniard was leaving Barcelona.

 

He doesn’t want to be faced with another high profile snub and so has switched his attention to 45-year-old Simeone who has enjoyed four impressed years at Atletico winning La Liga, the Europa League and reaching the final of the Champions League.

An emotional character on the touchline, Chelsea believe that Simeone will immediately engage with the Stamford Bridge fans, many of whom are angry with Mourinho’s sacking.

Simeone who doesn’t speak English is understood to be excited at the prospect of managing in the Premier League having already made the decision to listen to offers at the end of the season, believing his time with Atletico is up.

 

Chelsea started checking on Simeone’s availability around the time of the November international break as the season under Mourinho unravelled at a frightening rate.

Ideally they were hoping that Mourinho would be able to steady the ship until the end of the season when the Chelsea board would act.

But as the friction between Mourinho and some of his players grew leading to straight Premier League defeats against Bournemouth and Leicester, Abramovich brought forward the parting of the ways.

 

Manchester City will continue to try and set up their dream appointment of Guardiola with the Etihad’s two Spaniards and former Barcelona colleagues, chief executive Ferran Soriano and director of football, Txiki Begiristain, making it their obsession.

Current boss Manuel Pellegrini is being kept in the loop insisting when asked about any managerial change: “I will be the first to know.”