Jose Mourinho will not fulfill the rest of his duties as manager of defending Premier League champions Chelsea FC in the 2015/2016 season - he has officially been sacked by owner Roman Abramovich and the club executives. Fans of the team can admit that this was an inevitable outcome due to the team's poor performance this year, resulting in their current position in the standings at 16th in the league. After this week's defeat to current leaders Leicester City, Mourinho has officially been let go, despite having just signed a contract extension for 4 years back in August. Guus Hiddink is the rumored favorite to take over for the Portugal native, but other names including Juande Ramos, Pep Guardiola and more are in the mix as well.
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According to an official statement from the club, Mourinho's departure was a mutual understanding.
Chelsea Football Club and Jose Mourinho have today parted company by mutual consent. https://t.co/YYJaxxdE36
— Chelsea FC (@ChelseaFC) December 17, 2015
After the Leicester loss, Mourinho's post-game comments seemed to point some blame on his players. You can read more on that here. Unfortunately for the manager, it's simpler to remove him rather than the players that allegedly "betrayed" his coaching.
We recently reported on Guardiola's decision to opt out of a new contract as manager of Bayern Munchen in the Bundesliga, so clearly his name is on Abramovich's mind. The Express is one of many publications that is happy to consider this rumor.
According to AS, Juande Ramos has been spotted in London, possibly to discuss taking over as interim coach. Most reports seem to point to Hiddink as the top choice for this job though (via The Telegraph / BBC / The Guardian).
Meanwhile, The Daily Mail lists other rumored coaches to take over the job, including Avram Grant, Fabio Capello and Brendan Rodgers. The latest reports claim that Hiddink is still the favorite to take over, though.
