Speculation begins on Ancelotti replacement

Former Holland coach Marco van Basten is reportedly among the early favourites to replace Carlo Ancelotti as Chelsea manager.

A highly-rated forward who won the European Cup as a player with Milan, Van Basten has been out of work after his short spell in charge of Eredivisie club Ajax ended in May 2009.

Van Basten’s most notable success as a manager came in charge of the Netherlands, taking them to the semi-finals of the 2008 European Championships.

Another former Netherlands coach, Guus Hiddink, has been tipped to both join Van Basten behind the scenes as director of football or take the manager’s mantle himself.

Hiddink, currently in charge of Turkey, is well known to Chelsea fans after a brief stint at Stamford Bridge as caretaker manager in 2009.

Andre Villas-Boas, the 33-year-old prodigy who guided Porto to a treble of Liga Sagres title, Portuguese Cup and Europa League this season, has also been linked with the vacancy.

Chelsea’s Ivory Coast forward Salomon Kalou paid tribute to the departing Ancelotti.

The Italian was sacked on Sunday despite winning a double of the English Premier League and FA Cup in 2009/10, before taking the team to second in the table this season.

“The fans love him, the players respect him and loved him for what he did for the club,” Kalou said.

“What we wish to Carlo is to have a good time, a good time wherever he is going, and I think we all know that he is a great manager and he is going to bounce back.”

Tottenham fullback Benoit Assou-Ekoto believes Ancelotti’s departure was inevitable after the former Milan boss failed to repeat the success of his first season in charge.

“When you are Chelsea you want to finish first,” Assou-Ekoto said.

“Finishing second for them is to be the first of the losers. That’s the way they look at it.”

“There was only one escape for this coach, which was to finish first. He has not managed to finish first so they think that with another manager things will go better, but let’s see.”