COMMENT: Luis Enrique is the right manager for Chelsea - but today is not the right time.
Rewind 12 months and the Spaniard would be the ideal man to take charge of that dressing room. But today? Chelsea need to think carefully about replacing Antonio Conte with the Asturian.
It's looking inevitable now. Conte will be on his way at the end of this season. He could even do a Louis van Gaal. It's not beyond the realms that Conte could hand Roman Abramovich the FA Cup just as the Blues owner pays out his contract. And the disappointment for all concerned is that no-one would be surprised. Leaks from the front office. Matched by Conte's outbursts against management. The pair of 'em. Club and manager. They've been frog marching eachother to an inevitable split for much of this season.
And any skerrick of hope for those convinced Conte still had much to give as Chelsea manager was snuffed out by the aftermath of Barcelona. As frustrating as the top brass have found Conte's constant sniping (and for Conte this column would say rightfully) at transfer policy, the final straw was Marcos Alonso's swipe after the Nou Camp humiliation.
“We have had so many games this year and we have not got the deepest squad," complained the fullback after the 3-0 reverse.
To have the players now talking back to management - and from the same hymn sheet as Conte - is breaking point for the powerbrokers inside the board room. There's no way back now.
In Spain, they're convinced Enrique - fresh from his year's sabbatical - will be the next Chelsea manager. However, this column has learned from some close to the former Barcelona coach that Arsenal are a serious rival for his services. Either way, Enrique "wants back next season and his priority is England", we've been told. The PSG floater is just that. There's next to no chance of Neymar accepting his old Barca coach as Unai Emery's successor. Which is why Chelsea need to think long and hard about installing Enrique as manager for this developing team.
Enrique is a great manager. And a winning coach. But his personality suits a certain type of dressing room. He's not a players' manager. Enrique will take on Lionel Messi. Gerard Pique. Luis Suarez. He's not afraid of any personality - no matter how iconic. He and Messi tolerated eachother. There were even stories from La Masia of the pair coming close to blows on more than one occasion during training. Enrique wasn't interested in being Messi's friend. It was about his way. His system. And Messi would have to comply.
Think Diego Costa. Branislav Ivanovic. Even John Terry. Enrique perhaps wouldn't have gone the Conte route and pushed them out. He would've found a way that they could tolerate eachother for the good of the club. Just as he did at Barca.
But the Chelsea of today is very different to the one Conte inherited. This isn't a team full of out of control egos. Quite the opposite. This is a squad in need of leadership. Experience. Of self-belief. The last thing this young group needs is a manager happy to bang heads together. To call them out in public - as Enrique did routinely at Barca. Chelsea need to think long and hard about who they should trust with the development of this young team.
Unlike with Conte, Abramovich has been strictly at arm's length so far in Chelsea's search for the Italian's replacement. It was the Russian who primarily drove the pursuit of Conte two years ago. But this time around, he's been hands off.
News of Enrique agreeing personal terms rings true. But that's no guarantee of a commitment. Intermediaries will have reached a ballpark agreement on behalf of Enrique and Chelsea. However, everything will remain fluid until it becomes clear Conte is on his way. In the meantime, Enrique is free to pursue other lines of enquiry - including from Raul Sanllehi and Arsenal.
But Chelsea's managerial quandary will not just test those inside the board room. It is also looming as a challenge for the Blues faithful. That talk of Fulham manager Slavisa Jokanovic also being under consideration has reached Enrique's minders. There has been contact. The former Blues midfielder is a genuine candidate.
Great with young players - Ryan Sessegon, for example. Capable of rebuilding careers - Aleksander Mitrovic, anyone? And it can be argued his approach is more in line with Ernesto Valverde, Barca's current coach, than Enrique. Jokanovic is a serious, serious prospect to succeed Conte. And it'd be the most radical appointment made by Abramovich since Big Phil Scolari.
The question is: despite all those ticks in the plus column, would the fans accept someone from a Championship club? For the evolution of this Chelsea team, a good argument can be made for Jokanovic's appointment. But are Chelsea ready for such a cultural shift?