“That’s a statement”- Chelsea told to hire three-time Champions League winner as Graham Potter’s successor

Glen Johnson urges Todd Boehly to sign Zinedine Zidane as next Chelsea boss

Former Chelsea and Liverpool right-back Glen Johnson has pushed Todd Boehly to hire Zinedine Zidane as Chelsea’s next manager, saying that doing so would be a statement appointment.

Graham Potter’s final game in West London was a 2-0 loss to Aston Villa for Chelsea, as he was fired after only seven months there.

The 47-year-old experienced only 12 victories in 31 games in all competitions over those seven months, as Chelsea remained stuck in the bottom half of the standings.

Yet, a number of managers have been mentioned as potential replacements for Potter, including Luis Enrique, Mauricio Pochettino, and Julian Nagelsmann.

Also, it is now known that Zidane has recently been mentioned as a potential manager for the team. The Frenchman had excellent runs as manager of Real Madrid when he won three Champions League titles and two La Liga trophies.

According to Johnson, (h/t Football.London), Boehly will make a statement by hiring the former Real Madrid manager if they succeed in doing so.

“When we talk about people walking through the doors and making an instant impact, blimey if Zidane walked through the doors at Stamford Bridge and into that dressing room—that’s a statement.”

Who wouldn’t want to hire a manager like Zinedine Zidane, who managed players like Cristiano Ronaldo, Luka Modric, Karim Benzema, and Gareth Bale while leading Real Madrid to three consecutive Champions League titles.

This underlines how much of an impact he had on these players despite their personalities, and in the locker room. He was not hesitant to demonstrate his character both on and off the pitch. Also, the team will benefit from his offensive style of play, considering we have quality attacking players.

In his first season as Real Madrid’s manager, he guided them to European success, illustrating that he is the kind of manager who can produce immediate outcomes.

More Chelsea News:

• Thomas Tuchel claims Chelsea have changed massively since his sacking
• Julian Nagelsmann favourite to replace Graham Potter as Chelsea manager
• Glen Johnson claims Chelsea target Victor Osimhen hasn’t done enough for Didier Drogba comparisons

In his first and second stints with Real, he remained for a total of three and one year, respectively. Hence, we have to properly prioritise if we want immediate success or a long-term project. If the Frenchman is down to stay here for the long run, then there would hardly be any better solutions.

That being said, he had proven winners at Real Madrid while at Chelsea, he will have a plethora of young, rather unproven players to work with. Whether that is a challenge he will like to take remains to be seen.