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It's been a tough couple of seasons in the footballing world in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic. The pressure is on managers to deliver results as revenue streams have been blocked off. Clubs need to expand their horizons to break ground in a financial sense and success is the only sure-shot path to achieve it.
We were already living in a world obsessed with immediate results prior to the pandemic. It has only gotten a little worse over the past two years. We saw plenty of high-profile sackings happen in the 2020-21 season. As a result, several big names in the managerial circuit are currently unemployed.
With most of Europe's top sides looking to settle down ahead of the new season, some of these high-profile managers could remain unsigned for a while. Without further ado, let's take a look at five amazing managers who are without a job at the moment.
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#5 Paulo Fonseca
Paulo Fonseca was most recently the coach of AS Roma. Although he has been a manager for 16 years, he has only spent two years managing a side from one of the top 5 European leagues.
Fonseca's Porto spell in 2013-14 was forgettable. However, he transformed Ukrainian outfit Shakhtar Donetsk, winning the league title and the domestic cup in each of the three seasons he spent there between 2016 and 2019. Fonseca was appointed as the manager of AS Roma on the back of his success with Skahtar.
At Roma, Fonseca was able to get the team to follow his methods and his style. But by the time the 2020-21 season had rolled up, he had an injury-riddled and stale side. The new ownership was also not in favour of handing Fonseca a new contract. Jose Mourinho has now been appointed in his place.
So Fonseca most recently guided AS Roma to a rather underwhelming seventh-placed finish in the 2020-21 Serie A season. But that is not exactly a fair reflection of his abilities and experience. He was heavily linked with the Spurs job but discussions derailed and the whole ordeal did not end on a good note.
#4 Ernesto Valverde
Ernesto Valverde had a successful stint with Barcelona before being sacked in January 2020. He won the La Liga title in his first two seasons with the Catalans. He also won the Copa Del Rey and the Supercopa de Espana in 2018.
Prior to taking over at Barcelona, he had also led Athletic Bilbao to Supercopa de Espana triumph in 2015. Valverde has remained without a managerial job since leaving Barcelona. He has almost 20 years of experience in the job and could be an asset to whichever club that signs him.
#3 Frank Lampard
It looked like Frank Lampard was onto something in his first season in charge with Chelsea after he was appointed in the summer of 2019. He promoted many young individuals to the first team but failed to turn the Stamford Bridge outfit into title-challengers in his sophomore season.
A slew of bad results at the start of 2021 caused Chelsea to sack him and replace him with Thomas Tuchel. Despite struggling in the league, Chelsea were doing well in the Champions League when Lampard was given the sack. Tuchel also happily gave some credit to Lampard for Chelsea's Champions League triumph.
Before taking over at Chelsea, Lampard had a decent stint with Derby County, guiding them to the Championship playoff final in the 2018-19 season. A job at a smaller Premier League side would suit Lampard.
As of now, the Chelsea legend is being backed to replace Gareth Southgate as manager of the England national side. But Southgate is likely to keep his job until the 2022 World Cup after guiding the Three Lions to the final of Euro 2020.
#2 Antonio Conte
Antonio Conte is one of the most successful managers in Europe in the last decade. He transformed Juventus at the start of the last decade and won three consecutive Scudettos before taking over at Chelsea.
He won the Premier League title with Chelsea in his first season in England. However, after a disappointing second season where he could only guide his side to a fifth-placed finish in the league, Conte was replaced by Sarri.
A year later, Conte was appointed as the manager of Inter Milan. He turned the Nerazzurri's fortunes around and they finished the 2019-20 season at second, just a point behind champions Juventus.
Conte improved his players and won the Serie A title with Inter Milan in the 2020-21 season, ending the Bianconeri's nine-year dominance in the league. However, financially speaking, Inter Milan were reeling in the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic.
They informed Conte that they'll need to let go of some of their best players to balance their books. The Italian manager could not agree with the team's transfer policies and decided to leave the job. The 51-year-old was linked with Tottenham Hotspur but they ended up appointing Nuno Espirito Santos as their manager.
Conte is currently without a job but that won't be the case for too long thanks to his proven credentials.
#1 Zinedine Zidane
Zinedine Zidane's second stint with Real Madrid did not go according to plan but it wasn't for a lack of trying. Zizou took Los Blancos to the semi-finals of the Champions League in the 2020-21 season. His side also ensured the La Liga title race went down to the wire but stopped just short of catching up with eventual champions Atletico Madrid.
He won the Champions League in three consecutive seasons with Real Madrid. He has also won the La Liga title twice and has proven beyond doubt that he is pretty adept with tactics and exceptional at man-management.
As per L'Equipe and ESPN, Zidane is waiting for Didier Deschamps' tenure as the France national team coach to come to an end. The Frenchman wants to take over as manager of Les Bleus and is reportedly first in line to replace Deschamps.
(Honorable mention: Hans-Dieter Flick. The former Bayern Munich manager is being heavily linked with the German national team and is likely to take over as their coach soon).
