Ex-Chelsea star sacked after 8-0 win could return as manager | Football | Sport

Former Chelsea left-back Filipe Luis is being considered as a leading candidate for the club’s next head coach role – just weeks after he was dismissed by Flamengo following an 8-0 win. The west London club are hunting for a fourth manager in under four months after Liam Rosenior was shown the door on Wednesday.

Rosenior, 41, had been appointed Chelsea head coach on January 8 following caretaker boss Callum McFarlane’s two-match stint at the helm after Enzo Maresca‘s departure on New Year’s Day. Despite a promising beginning at Stamford Bridge, Rosenior’s reign was brought to an abrupt end following a chastening 3-0 defeat at Brighton.

The result extended Chelsea’s Premier League losing streak to five matches and saw them slip to seventh, now seven points adrift of fifth-place Liverpool in the battle for Champions League qualification.

While the Blues have reinstated McFarlane as interim head coach until the season’s conclusion, the club remain in pursuit of a permanent replacement, with Luis sitting among the bookmakers’ favourites.

With outgoing Bournemouth manager Andoni Iraola appearing to be a frontrunner, Luis features prominently in the betting alongside former Chelsea team-mate Cesc Fabregas, who is performing miracles at Serie A side Como.

Edin Terzic, Marco Silva and Diego Simeone are also firmly in contention, while Chelsea icon and current Coventry City manager Frank Lampard and Jose Mourinho are considered rank outsiders. Luis, 40, spent one campaign at Chelsea and ultimately helped the Blues secure the League Cup and Premier League crown. The Brazilian arrived at the club for £15.7million from Atletico Madrid in July 2014 and featured 26 times for Mourinho’s team before leaving the subsequent summer.

He would rejoin Atletico and remained there for four additional years before returning to Brazil and concluding the remainder of his career at Flamengo. After hanging up his boots in December 2023, Luis moved straight into management at Flamengo and served in the academy before being named as the first-team head coach.

The former Ajax and Deportivo La Coruna man enjoyed a remarkable 18 months as Flamengo’s manager, claiming the Copa do Brasil and Copa Libertadores during that spell. However, the Brazilian outfit announced on March 3 that he had been dismissed despite recording an 8-0 victory over Madureira in the Campeonato Carioca semi-final.

Few could fathom the decision to sack Luis, who had a 63.4 per cent success rate at Flamengo, triumphing in 64 of his 101 fixtures in charge. In 2025, Luis also claimed the South American Coach of the Year accolade.

But he is now unemployed following his sacking from Flamengo and Chelsea could consider appointing the former left-back as their new head coach heading into the 2026/27 campaign.