Julian Nagelsmann is yet to speak publicly on his negotiations with Chelsea - but his girlfriend may have inadvertently given the game away.
The German manager has already met with club representatives having been identified as the club's leading target. And an appointment now appears yet more imperative after The Blues were dumped out of the Champions League by Real Madrid on Tuesday.
Nagelsmann, 35, began the campaign at Bayern Munich having led them to the Bundesliga title in 2021/22. But despite being in contention again this time around, and winning through to the last eight of Europe's premier competition, he was sacked in March to be replaced by Thomas Tuchel.
Whilst the man himself has remain tight lipped on links to Stamford Bridge though, his other half, Lena Wurzenberger, has dropped a major hint. The Sun has reported that on April 1, she was due to start a new role working for German car manufacturer BMW.
But Wurzenberger, a former journalist, has pushed back the start date to her new job. It's only served to further fuel rumours that a deal between her man and Todd Boehly's club is nearing.
There are other candidates in the frame though. The club have also made contact with Luis Enrique, while ex-Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino is also reportedly on the US businessman's shortlist. And in what yet be an ironic twist, Spurs have also been linked to Nagelsmann.
Interim boss Frank Lampard is currently in charge at Chelsea, but any forlorn hopes he had of getting the job full time all but evaporated at the hands of Real on Tuesday. Trailing 2-0 from the first leg, two goals from Rodrygo scored twice to double their advantage as the holders cruised through.
And the squad's problems have since been laid bare by Thiago Silva, who implied the mass amount of players signed this season had hindered progress; "We can’t be blaming the managers if we don’t take responsibility," he said.
"It’s a hard period for the club, with a lot of indecision. Change of ownership, new players arriving – we had to increase the size of the changing room because it didn’t fit the size of the squad. A positive point is that there are amazing players in the squad but on the other hand there are always players that are going to be unhappy."
