I’ve been talking about him as a potential Chelsea manager since last year, so it comes as no surprise to me that we were hearing yesterday that Frank Rijkaard is being lined up to take over from Guus Hiddink next season.

What we’re told is that Hiddink has now sounded out the former Barcelona boss, who in turn has confirmed he’s up for it. So, by all accounts, when Hiddink returns to Russia in the summer, Frank Rijkaard will be the man to step in at Stamford Bridge.

That’s not the whole story though because there’s also the suggestion that Hiddink could even return to Stamford Bridge at the end of Russia’s World Cup campaign to work with Rijkaard in a director of football role.

One ‘source close to Rijkaard’ refused to discuss the appointment although did say “They are a club he admires — but he would not want to talk about that particular subject at the moment.”

Another ‘source’ however, is alleged to have confirmed “Guus and Frank have had long discussions about the job in the last few weeks. It has been informally agreed Frank will step in during the summer.  Abramovich wants Hiddink to complete Russia’s World Cup campaign — but there will then be the option for him to return to Chelsea and work in tandem with Rijkaard.”

I still can’t help thinking that with the balls-up Ancelotti’s made of it at AC Milan this season, they’ll fancy Rijkaard taking over there, so I guess we’ll have to wait and see whether my suspicions about him coming to Chelsea were right or not.

Filed under: Rumours