I have just been told by Stamford Bridge insiders that Andre Villas-Boas has resigned as Porto boss and is on his way to London to take over from Carlo Ancelotti at Chelsea.
The decision to appoint the 33-year-old former 'facts man' for Mourinho is Roman Abramovich's biggest gamble yet.
How will he cope with the huge egos in the Chelsea dressing room - particularly older stars like Lampard and Terry who think they are as influential voices at the club as the manager?
And how will he persuade big names from around the world to join him - the likes of Sanchez or Neymar would probably say 'who' if you asked them whether they would like to work for Villas-Boas.
Roman is aware of all that - indeed it has been said he had even considered Terry or Lampard as coach with Hiddink as director of football.
In the end, he threw the dice and decided to go for broke with Villas-Boas. The Portuguese has been promised he will have major funds to spend and that he will be backed if there is any friction with any of those big, older names in the dressing room.
Roman wants the team to play better football and be sharper - and it has been mentioned that one of Villas-Boas's more unpleasant tasks will be to actually dismantle the team of the big egos, and replace them with younger alternatives.
Good luck Andre - you will need it, you have a major overhaul of a job on your hands.
About Me
- Frank Worrall
- is a Fleet Street journalist who has written regularly for The Sunday Times, The Sun, The Mail on Sunday, FourFourTwo magazine, Melody Maker/NME and many other newspapers and magazines. The subjects of his critically-acclaimed books include Gareth Bale, Roy Keane, Lewis Hamilton, Alex Ferguson and Rory McIlroy.