Guus Hiddink Emerges As Prime Contender To Take Over Chelsea

Former Holland boss and one term Chelsea interim boss Guus Hiddink is being considered as a potential caretaker manager for Chelsea should the club decide to sack Jose Mourinho.

After watching his side suffer their ninth Premier League defeat of the season against Leicester on Monday night, Mourinho is fighting to save his job at Stamford Bridge as club chiefs held a crunch meeting to discuss Mourinho’s future the day after the shock defeat by Bournemouth on December 5. It is understood the talks, which started in the early afternoon, lasted well into the evening as they decided to give the Portuguese manager more time to turn the club’s season around.

Abramovich will be forced to pay Mourinho more than £40million if he fires the Chelsea manager, as buying out his four-year, £250,000-a-week deal is one of the main reasons behind the reluctance to sack Mourinho so soon after agreeing a new contract. Mourinho, who took training as usual at Chelsea's Cobham base on Wednesday morning, agreed to sign a new deal towards the end of last season but the club waited until August before officially announcing the new agreement. After winning the title so comprehensively, Chelsea believed Mourinho was the world's greatest manager and agreed a straight four-year term without negotiating a settlement clause in case they were forced to sack him.

If Abramovich goes ahead to sack him,  Hiddink, who enjoyed a successful caretaker spell at Stamford Bridge winning the FA Cup in 2009, is one of the names being mentioned as a temporary replacement for the beleaguered Blues boss. Former Liverpool boss Brendan Rodgers and World Cup-winning manager Marcello Lippi have also been considered while ex-Tottenham boss Juande Ramos has been linked with an interim role.