Chelsea have been in contact with Ipswich Town over their manager Kieran McKenna, football.london understands.

The Northern Irishman is on the Blues' shortlist of candidates to replace Mauricio Pochettino after the Argentine parted company with the club by mutual consent earlier in the week. Ipswich want McKenna to remain at Portman Road after the 38-year-old led the Tractor Boys back to the top-flight for the first time in 22 years following a historic season for the club.

McKenna has emerged as one of the leading candidates for Chelsea following such an impressive season that saw Ipswich play free-flowing attacking football in the Championship while finding the right balance to defend solidly as well. It was the Tractor Boys' second successive promotion after McKenna took them up to the second-tier from League One the campaign before.

Chelsea have contacted Ipswich to express their interest in trying to poach McKenna, football.london understands. However, the Blues are not the only interested party with Brighton also looking at McKenna following the sudden departure of Roberto De Zerbi.

The west London club are looking to bring in a young head coach to spearhead their ambitious long-term project. Pochettino, while leading Chelsea to a European finish thanks to a sensational conclusion to his one and only season with the club, was once believed to be that man.

However, after an end-of-season review that finished on Tuesday morning, there was a mutual agreement between the 52-year-old and the club to move on. McKenna is highly thought of at Chelsea to replace Pochettino but the club are very much keeping their options open.

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Enzo Maresca of Leicester City, the man who pipped McKenna to the Championship title in the recently-concluded 2023/24 season, is also of interest to Chelsea. The Italian head coach, who worked under Pep Guardiola at Manchester City, is very highly thought of at Stamford Bridge after a dominant season in the Championship that saw him transform the Foxes' style of play.

Sebastian Hoeness has also been looked at but a move for the German coach seems to be more complicated. The VfB Stuttgart boss is already said to have rejected Bayern Munich to stay at the MHPArena, so trying to prise him away could be more difficult than the likes of McKenna and Maresca.