terça-feira, 10 de maio de 2011

Guus Hiddink and André Villas Boas top Chelsea's managerial hit-list


Chelsea are to intensify their search for a manager to replace Carlo Ancelotti, with the club's owner, Roman Abramovich, seriously considering the merits of Guus Hiddink and Porto's André Villas Boas to replace the Italian at Stamford Bridge.
Defeat by Manchester United on Sunday effectively ended Chelsea's title defence, condemning the club to the third trophyless season of the Abramovich era. Ancelotti, who had claimed the London club's first league and FA Cup Double in his first season, is due to meet the chief executive, Ron Gourlay, in the week after the final round of Premier League matches and is expecting to be relieved of his duties after two years in charge and with 12 months of his contract to run.
The lack of obvious, high-calibre candidates to replace the 51-year-old had offered hope that he might be afforded a reprieve, though the combination of relative failure in successive Champions League campaigns and a mid-season slump that wrecked their domestic pursuit of honours – despite a late-season revival – appears to have terminally eroded the owner's faith in the management team. Ancelotti has already made it clear he would prefer to remain in England next season and, despite interest at Roma, is not inclined as yet to return to Serie A.
With Pep Guardiola to remain at Barcelona for another season at least, Hiddink continues to top the list of potential replacements for Ancelotti. The Dutchman is a familiar figure in south-west London, having enjoyed a successful spell, including winning the FA Cup, at Stamford Bridge in 2009 as caretaker after the dismissal of Luiz Felipe Scolari. The 64-year-old is contracted to the Turkish Football Federation to the end of the 2012 European Championships and is loth to break that agreement. He has forged himself an admirable reputation over the years for refusing to walk away from contracts, a stance that cost Chelsea the chance of securing his services full-time two years ago when he was still working for Russia.
However, the Chelsea hierarchy retain some hope that Hiddink could yet become available in the summer, particularly if Turkey lose their Euro 2012 qualifying fixture away to Belgium on 3 June. The Turks are third in Group A, a point behind their next opponents. It remains to be seen whether the veteran manager – who has coached seven clubs in four countries and five national sides – would be willing to take on another major full-time club job though, if there are any doubts, the club would be keen to secure his services as a sporting director to replace the outgoing Frank Arnesen.
That would allow them to supplement his appointment with that of a young, up-and-coming manager to oversee the first team with the safety net of Hiddink in the background. The Dutchman's instinct may be to promote Marco van Basten, a former Holland and, briefly, Ajax manager, in that scenario but Villas Boas has caught theeye after a startling campaign with Porto. The Portuguese club will meet their compatriots Braga in next week's Europa League final in Dublin having secured their domestic championship with a record points tally and five matches to spare.
The 33-year-old has already worked at Chelsea, having joined José Mourinho at the club in a role that ultimately saw him scouting opponents, a relationship that was maintained at Internazionale before Villas Boas took over at the Portuguese club Academica and went on to save them from relegation last season.
His qualities are known to the Premier League club's hierarchy and, while Mourinho arguably boasted more established pedigree having won both the Uefa Cup and the Champions League before he was prised from Porto in 2004, the younger man's achievements this year have been noted with interest.
Villas Boas himself believes he may be better suited to continue learning his trade in Portugal for a further season but he is ambitious and would struggle to resist an offer to return to Stamford Bridge. "London is a city where I could live perfectly," he said this month. "The people in the club are fantastic – from the players, staff and the owner. With José we reached maximum success. Chelsea won the Premier League title, 50 years after they last won it. It was something very, very strong and made a big impact on world football and maybe it established the name of Chelsea as a really successful club in the world."
While the former Liverpool manager Rafael Benítez would be interested in the position, Chelsea are not inclined to turn to the Spaniard, while others within the game have pushed the credentials of Mark Hughes and Harry Redknapp. The former Barcelona manager Frank Rijkaard is not thought to be under consideration.
in "guardian.co.uk"

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