Chelsea are making progress in their search for a new manager (Picture: Getty)

Chelsea are leaning towards making an offer to Mauricio Pochettino but have added another manager to their shortlist of candidates to take over at Stamford Bridge.

The Blues are making progress in their search for a new manager and former Tottenham boss Pochettino has been identified as the frontrunner for the job.

Todd Boehly sacked Champions League-winning manager Thomas Tuchel at the start of the season and axed the German’s replacement, Graham Potter, earlier this month.

Despite the myriad of issues at Stamford Bridge – Chelsea have dropped into the bottom-half of the Premier League and are out of every cup competition – the club’s owners have decided to wait until the summer to appoint a new manager.

As a short-term solution, Chelsea opted to bring back former boss Frank Lampard as caretaker manager until the end of the season, though the Blues have lost four games in a row under the ex-England midfielder.

Pochettino, who has been out of work since leaving Paris Saint-Germain last year, has impressed the Chelsea hierarchy in multiple interviews and could soon be offered the job, according to The Guardian.

But it is claimed the Premier League club have also expressed interest in Celtic boss Ange Postecoglou, who has guided the Scottish giants to back-to-back league titles.

Mauricio Pochettino is the frontrunner to take over at Stamford Bridge (Picture: Getty)

The Australian’s lack of experience in Europe’s big leagues will likely see Chelsea look elsewhere for their third permanent manager under the Boehly regime, but Postecoglou could well be targeted by other clubs this summer.

As well as Pochettino, Chelsea have interviewed Julian Nagelsmann and Luis Enrique but appear to have gone cold on both managers.

The Blues are also admirers of Manchester City legend Vincent Kompany, who has guided Burnley to promotion from the Championship in his first season at Turf Moor.

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Former Arsenal and England winger Paul Merson believes Chelsea should make an appointment now and relieve Lampard of his duties.

He told Sky Sports: ‘I could get the Frank appointment for the Champions League as that’s all they were playing for but they’re out of that now.

‘No disrespect to Frank but they need to get the new manager in now to give him four or five weeks with this team see who the bad eggs are and the ones the manager doesn’t want.

‘He’s going to be coming in July 1 or whenever it is and it’s not enough time. He wants to get this done so when he comes back at pre-season there’s 22 or 23.

‘Say to Todd Boehly to get rid of these ones whatever it takes to pay them off I don’t want them in my squad, this is the 22 go and get me a striker and get me a goalkeeper and we’ll go from there.

‘Something has to be done now and that’s no disrespect to Frank. He was brought in for the Champions League. You’ve got to get rid of these players.’

MORE : Arsenal legend Paul Merson warns Chelsea against hiring Mauricio Pochettino

MORE : The reason Julian Nagelsmann pulled out of the running to be Chelsea manager

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The Blues are making progress in their search for a new manager.