Luis Enrique’s hopes of succeeding Antonio Conte at Chelsea could rest on whether or not he is prepared to accept a significantly lower wage than he was paid by Barcelona.

As previously reported by Telegraph Sport, Enrique, who speaks English, is keen on the prospect of joining Chelsea and would like to restart his managerial career in the Premier League.

But it is believed Enrique earned in the region of £16.5 million-a-year by the time he stood down from his Barça role at the end of last season, having won two La Liga titles, the Champions League and three Copa del Reys.

That is far in excess of the £9.5m-a-year wages Chelsea rewarded Conte with for winning the Premier League title last season and is even more than Pep Guardiola and Jose Mourinho earn at Manchester City and Manchester United.

Enrique’s wage demands, therefore, could provide a stumbling block over a proposed move to Stamford Bridge and offer hope to Thomas Tuchel, the former Borussia Dortmund manager, and Maurizio Sarri of Napoli, who are both interested in the Chelsea job and would be much cheaper.

Conte is the highest-paid manager in Chelsea’s history and the club will not want to pay his successor more than £9.5m-a-year before they have achieved anything with the club.