Former Barcelona manager, Luis Enrique's quest to become next Chelsea coach, could hit the rocks because of his high wage demands, a new report has revealed.
Luis Enrique
Luis Enrique’s hopes of succeeding Antonio Conte at Chelsea could rest on whether or not he is prepared to accept a significantly lower wage than he was paid by Barcelona, according to Telegraph Sport.
Enrique, who speaks English, is keen on the prospect of joining Chelsea and would like to restart his managerial career in the Premier League.
But it is believed Enrique earned in the region of £16.5 million-a-year by the time he stood down from his Barça role at the end of last season, having won two La Liga titles, the Champions League and three Copa del Reys.
That is far in excess of the £9.5m-a-year wages Chelsea rewarded Conte with for winning the Premier League title last season and is even more than Pep Guardiola and Jose Mourinho earn at Manchester City and Manchester United.
Enrique’s wage demands, therefore, could provide a stumbling block over a proposed move to Stamford Bridge and offer hope to Thomas Tuchel, the former Borussia Dortmund manager, and Maurizio Sarri of Napoli, who are both interested in the Chelsea job and would be much cheaper.
Conte is the highest-paid manager in Chelsea’s history and the club will not want to pay his successor more than £9.5m-a-year before they have achieved anything with the club.
It is still expected that Conte will leave Stamford Bridge with one year remaining on his contract in the summer, which means Chelsea would also have to pay the Italian compensation until any such time that he found a new job.
Given the fact he is out of work, Chelsea would not have to pay any compensation to appoint Enrique but a compromise over wages would have to be negotiated.
Chelsea hired Conte on £6.5m-a-year with the promise of a big increase if he won trophies and are likely to try to offer achievement-based incentives to their next man, particularly if the club fail to qualify for next season’s Champions League.
Although it is far less than what Enrique earned at Barcelona, Conte’s salary at Chelsea complicates any prospect of a return to his old job as manager of the Italian national team.