Chelsea have ended their interest in appointing Kieran McKenna as their new head coach.
McKenna has become one of the brightest young coaches in English football and has led Ipswich Town back to the English Football League Premier League following back-to-back promotions.
Chelsea said goodbye to Mauricio Pochettino last week with the 38-year-old emerging as the frontrunner for the Stamford Bridge job.
However, the Blues are no longer considering the Northern Ireland manager. The Athletics report.
Chelsea held talks with McKenna last week and despite having great admiration for him, the Premier League side are now focusing on a select group of candidates, which does not include the former Manchester United assistant.
The report also states that Leicester City boss Enzo Maresca and Brentford's Thomas Frank are the only known options to succeed Pochettino. Roberto De Zerbi also remains strongly associated with the role.
Brighton wants to bring in McKenna to replace the Italian, but Manchester United are also enthusiastic about his services.
It has been reported the Ipswich boss would jump at the chance to return to Old Trafford if United decided to part ways with Erik ten Hag with United officials holding talks with its representatives last week.
McKenna joined United in 2016 as Under-18s head coach before moving into a senior role, serving as assistant coach to Jose Mourinho and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer before taking over at Ipswich in 2021.
McKenna is thought to be keen to take the next step in his career and although Ipswich will look to tie him down to a new contract, he is ready to move on.
Ten Hag led United to FA Cup glory on Saturday by beating Manchester City 2-1 at Wembley but is still at 'serious risk' of being dismissed.
United are carrying out a thorough seasonal review this week to determine his fate.
MORE : Pep Guardiola 'plans to leave Man City next year', with four possible replacements revealed
MORE : Manchester United star Harry Maguire takes aim at Leeds after play-off final loss to Southampton
Chelsea news, exclusives and analysis
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and Google Privacy Policy And Terms of Service to apply.