According to reports in England, former AC Milan and Real Madrid manager Carlo Ancelotti turned down Chelsea FC’s approach for him in November, five weeks before Jos Mourinho was sacked
Chelsea FC owner Roman Abramovich turned to a former manager after sacking the most successful manager in the club’s history, with Dutchman Guus Hiddink appointed on an interim basis until the end of the season.
Yet another former manager in Carlo Ancelotti was also linked with a return to Stamford Bridge, but the Italian has since agreed to take over from Pep Guardiola at Bayern Munich. However, if reports in England’s Mail Online are to be believed, the Blues did in fact try to bring Ancelotti back — five weeks before Mourinho was sacked.
The report by Neil Ashton, who is known to have sources inside the Chelsea FC camp, indicates that one of Abramovich’s biggest regrets was sacking the three-time Champions League winner in 2011, and that the Russian wanted to bring him back to SW6 ahead of Guus Hiddink to steady the ship.
Ancelotti, who won the Premier League and the F.A. Cup with Chelsea in 2010, reportedly did not want to return on a short-term deal, opting instead to stride into the unknown — the German Bundesliga.
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Timing of Mourinho sacking could cost Chelsea FC
Even if one can make a fairly strong argument for why Chelsea FC were right in sacking Mourinho, the timing of the decision might put the club in a spot of bother. By the time the decision was made, Ancelotti had committed his future elsewhere, while there were also strong reports of Guardiola taking over at Manchester City — a club that has become a rival over recent seasons.
The Blues have effectively hamstrung themselves in their manager search, with Diego Simeone the only ‘big name’ option available to them in the summer. The names of Antonio Conte, Massimilliano Allegri, Manuel Pellegrini and even Brendan Rodgers have been floated about, but the top three managers in world football — Ancelotti, Guardiola, Mourinho — will now almost certainly be out of Abramovich’s reach.