Julian Nagelsmann is not interested in succeeding Graham Potter at Chelsea this season, according to reports in Germany.
Potter has been sacked after the Blues suffered an embarrassing 2-0 home defeat to Aston Villa on Saturday evening. The club have been the biggest spenders in Europe since Todd Boehly's consortium completed a takeover of the club last summer - investing more than £500million into the squad - but find themselves 11th in the Premier League.
Nagelsmann is one of Europe's most promising managers, despite being sacked by Bayern Munich last month. The former RB Leipzig boss is currently a free agent following his Bavarian exit but does not want to take the Chelsea job at the moment in time.
As reported by Sky in Germany prior to Potter's sacking, Nagelsmann is admired by Chelsea's hierarchy. Yet Nagelsmann does not want to make an immediate return to management and will wait until the summer to decide his future.
Potter's exit comes with Chelsea on course for their worst top flight finish in 27 years and with a top-four finish almost out of reach. Chelsea are 11 points behind Tottenham in fourth and must leapfrog Fulham, Villa, Liverpool, Brentford, Brighton and Newcastle to reach Spurs.
That has been enough to decide Potter's fate. Chelsea still have a chance of winning silverware this term - despite their poor domestic form - as they have reached the quarter-finals of the Champions League. But they face a daunting two-legged clash with holders Real Madrid later this month.
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Potter held his hands up after Chelsea's loss to Villa. "After a defeat there is always a disappointment. There is always a feeling we have not moved forward, that's fair to say.
"We have to analyse the performance and look at the things we've done well and what we can do better. Defensively we've left ourselves too open but again if you look at the stats of the game we had chances ourselves, we had one-v-ones, but the most important thing, putting the ball into the net, we were second-best.
"I don't like to blame anybody, I have to take responsibility. We are a team, we have to stay together, we are together. We win or lose together. We will recover and we will prepare for the next game. We need to respond, that's clear. But we look forward to it."
Announcing Potter's sacking, co-controlling owners Todd Boehly and Behdad Eghbali said: "On behalf of everyone at the club, we want to thank Graham sincerely for his contribution to Chelsea.
"We have the highest degree of respect for Graham as a coach and as a person. He has always conducted himself with professionalism and integrity and we are all disappointed in this outcome.
"Along with our incredible fans, we will all be getting behind Bruno and the team as we focus on the rest of the season. We have 10 Premier League games remaining and a Champions League quarter final ahead. We will put every effort and commitment into every one of those games so that we can end the season on a high."
