Chelsea look set to hire Enzo Maresca as their new manager.

The Italian is in line to get the Chelsea job after winning the Championship with Leicester City.

Maresca may have won the race to get the Chelsea job, but this has been a closely-run contest for the past few weeks.

Indeed, a number of managers have been linked with Chelsea during this time, including Kieran McKenna.

Speaking on Chelsea Fan TV, Ben Jacobs has been discussing how close McKenna came to getting this job, and he’s shared details of a phone call between Chelsea and McKenna yesterday.

What Chelsea told Kieran McKenna

Jacobs shared the details of this phone conversation.

“Chelsea personally called McKenna and they told him that he was in their thinking and that he was relatively close to advancing to the final few,” Jacobs said.

“He was thanked. Chelsea felt it was important to be courteous and to have a direct conversation with McKenna before the Maresca news broke so that he knew the club appreciated him. When you do that you always give yourself an opportunity further down the line.”

Chelsea keeping McKenna sweet

Chelsea have purposefully remained on good terms with McKenna, and maybe that will lead to an opportunity further down the line.

Indeed, while the Ipswich manager isn’t in line for this job on this occasion, history tells us that we’re never too far away from a managerial change at Stamford Bridge.

McKenna remains one of the most talented young coaches in the game right now, and who knows? Perhaps if things don’t work out for Maresca in west London, maybe Chelsea will be on the phone to McKenna again before too long.