What next for Di Matteo after unexpected Chelsea departure?

Few will argue that Roberto Di Matteo has been drastically hard done by in being given the Chelsea boot by Roman Abramovich and his record at Stamford Bridge should ensure another decent position next.

Di Matteo won a Champions League and FA Cup in eight months at Chelsea and despite a month of patchy form, they are still third in the Premier League, four points off the pace being set by Manchester City.

However, how much his stock has actually risen as a result of his Chelsea success remains to be seen, although the gut feeling is that it is minimal.

It is 1/1 that Di Matteo’s next job is in the Premier League, but a vacancy would have to become available first.

How the 42-year-old views himself will have a big bearing on his future, as he may feel that his Champions League triumph means he should be holding out for a high-profile role.

Tottenham are the only one of the Premier League big guns that would logically even consider him and he obviously has previous for fixing messes created by Andre Villas-Boas.

But he would do well to claim this role even it was available, meaning QPR look the most realistic option, especially with Di Matteo showing at Chelsea an ability to get the best out of ageing players, even if he was already friendly with them.

With Mark Hughes seemingly not having long to save his bacon, appointing Di Matteo is a possibility in the new year.

It would be a major fall from grace to go from winning the Champions League to managing a Championship club in nine months, but this is priced at 5/2.

Surely it would have to be a sleeping giant type of club to have any appeal to Di Matteo in the mould of Leeds, but whether any could afford him has to be considered.

Looking around Europe, the biggest current vacancy if Di Matteo fancies an immediate return to management is in Germany with Wolfsburg.

Di Matteo is 8/1 to take a job in Italy next, but given his Lazio ties, a move to Roma must be ruled out, while AC Milan look as if they are waiting to appoint a higher profile candidate in the summer.

Therefore, the MLS has the most appeal as the destination of Di Matteo’s next managerial post at 10/1.

The MLS is growing well and the latest season will be over in a the next few weeks, meaning that clubs will be reassessing their situations soon in regard to sorting out their futures.

All odds and markets accurate as of publication’s time and date