Why Abramovich needs to give youth another chance at the Chelsea job despite failed Villas-Boas project

Antonio Conte’s time as Chelsea manager is up. Not officially, but everyone pretty much knows the Italian won’t be in charge at Stamford Bridge next season.

His spectacularly bad defence of the Premier League title and reported falling out with the Blues hierarchy over transfer targets, coupled with his side’s slide down the table to fifth and Champions League exit has all spelt the end.

The west London side remain in the FA Cup and face Southampton in the semi-finals this weekend but even winning that won’t save 48-year-old Conte’s career at Stamford Bridge. He has a year left on his deal in west London but the club are expected to relieve him of his duties ahead of the 2018/19 season.

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Even defender Cesar Azpilicueta knows winning the FA Cup won’t be enough to save Chelsea’s season. “The FA Cup is a massive trophy with a lot of history but it’s not enough for us,” the 28-year-old told BBC. “We will try to win it but the cup will not save our season.”

With all that in mind, Chelsea are already reportedly looking for a new manager (why change the habit of a lifetime?) and while the name that keeps getting linked in 59-year-old Napoli boss Maurizio Sarri, there are new reports on Thursday suggesting the Blues will look for a younger new coach this time around.

According to The Telegraph, close friends of owner Roman Abramovich (does he actually have any?) are urging him to consider finding “the ‘next big thing’, rather than a proven winner”.

The list of names reportedly on the club’s wish-list include 30-year-old Julian Nagelsmann at Hoffenheim, Roma’s Eusebio Di Francesco (48) and Huddersfield Town’s David Wagner (46) while they also talked to 40-year-old Eddie Howe two yeas ago before they brought Conte in.

Their ideal choice is Tottenham’s 46-year-old Mauricio Pochettino, but Chelsea appreciate they have little chance of convincing him to join.

This list clearly proves that it’s not quite age that is important here but rather the want for a manager with something to prove in the Premier League and who would bring a fresh approach, being young would just be a bonus.

But arguably Sarri would also do that. He hasn’t actually won anything yet in his managerial career, aside from a few personal awards, but has moulded sleeping giants Napoli into a serious Serie A title contender this season, although it looks likely they will lose out to Juventus in the end.

The Telegraph claim ‘there is a feeling they need to take a new route to the top and one way could be to appoint a fresh, dynamic coach who is committed to modern, attractive football and is willing to promote young players.’

Of course Abramovich already tried to do this back in 2011 when he paid Porto £11m to bring back Andre Villas-Boas, former assistant to Jose Mourinho at Stamford Bridge, who was just 33 at the time. He had swept all before him and won the treble in 2011, including becoming the youngest manager ever to win a European competition as they took home the Europa League.

However he lasted just eight months at Chelsea, was replaced by assistant Roberto de Matteo in March of that season who went on to somehow win the Champions League against overwhelming favourites Bayern Munich in their own back yard.

AVB, who went on to be rather unfairly dismissed by Tottenham despite leaving the club with the highest percentage of league wins of any manager in the club’s Premier League era, years later admitted he stuck to his guns too much at Stamford Bridge, against reports he lost a dressing room full of strong egos.

“There were some players who didn’t want to work hard for Villas-Boas,” Ashley Cole told ESPN at some point. “But as soon as [Roberto] Di Matteo arrived, that all changed.”

However, this time around the Chelsea dressing room might actually be perfectly balanced for a younger manager with more radical ideas. There is a lack of the sort of egos from seven years ago with Didier Drogba, John Terry, Frank Lampard and Cole all long gone.

A few of the names, like Cesc Fabregas and Eden Hazard, who were linked with the mutiny against Mourinho in 2015 are still there but there isn’t anything like the sort of egos AVB would have had to battle with.

Since he binned off AVB in 2012, Ambramovich has gone conservative, appointing managers with age and experience as the likes of Rafa Benitez, Guus Hiddink arrived before Mourinho returned and then Conte as handed the job.

Now may just be the perfect time for the Russian owner to break the mould.