Vincent Kompany is among the final four names under consideration to be appointed Chelsea manager, the PA news agency understands.
The Burnley boss – who has also been linked with the Tottenham job – is in contention alongside Mauricio Pochettino and Julian Nagelsmann after the list was whittled down in the almost three weeks since Graham Potter was sacked.
It is understood a fourth coach in the running is someone who is “respected and liked” but whose name has not publicly been linked with the role.
Former Manchester City captain Kompany is in his second job in management at Turf Moor, following an unsuccessful spell at Anderlecht in Belgium, and has led the club to an immediate Premier League return. They will be crowned Sky Bet Championship winners with victory against QPR on Saturday.
He has emerged as a surprise candidate after former Spain boss Luis Enrique, an early favourite for the job after impressing club officials in his first face-to-face meeting, dropped out of consideration. It is understood the club were put off by demands made by the 52-year-old.
Ex-Tottenham boss Pochettino also remains in the running, as does another early favourite Nagelsmann, whose contractual issues with former club Bayern Munich, where he remains on gardening leave, are set to be resolved following an agreement between the clubs for coach Anthony Barry to join the Bundesliga side.
PA understands there is no favourite currently among the four and that the process, which is being conducted by co-sporting directors Paul Winstanley and Laurence Stewart, remains ongoing.
Interim boss Frank Lampard, who has lost all four matches since being appointed two weeks ago, is still expected to be in charge of the team until the end of the season.
Football League expert Sam Parkin said last weekend that he thought Kompany would eventually manage a Champions League club after Burnley.
“You’d like him to commit his future, but it’s not always as easy as that,” Parkin said on ITV’s English Football League Highlights show.
“But it depends how quickly he’s on this ascendency, if there’s room for a bit of patience and if he can potentially build at Burnley and stabilise them in the Premier League before making that jump to a Champions League club
“I think it’s probably inevitable he’s going to get there at some stage, but you’d like him to maybe emulate what Nuno Espirito Santo did at Wolves and there’s other examples as well.
“There’s no…
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