Luis Enrique will not consider becoming Chelsea manager until the summer because he must wait to bring his own coaching staff with him.

Antonio Conte will stay in charge for now, although the club may axe him before the end of the season if their chances of finishing in the top four diminish much further.

They could drop to fifth before they play West Brom on Monday night, having picked up just five points from as many games.

Enrique is Chelsea’s first choice to succeed Conte and has been on a sabbatical since leaving Barcelona last May but he is not interested in cutting his break short or starting a job without his key aides.

The 47-year-old spent three successful seasons at Barcelona where he relied on Juan Carlos Unzue (assistant manager), Robert Moreno (another assistant), Rafel Pol (fitness coach) and Joaquin Valdes (psychologist).

The quartet were also with him during his season at Celta Vigo before they all moved to the Nou Camp in 2014.

After Enrique decided to take a year off, the quartet returned to work for Celta Vigo with Unzue as manager.

It is understood Celta Vigo are concerned they could all leave to go with Enrique to west London in the summer but they will not depart now with Celta eighth in La Liga and in contention for a Europa League place.

Enrique will find it very difficult to persuade Unzue to accept stepping back to his role as assistant, even though the pair are very close friends.

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Unzue was considered the most important of all Enrique’s staff at Barcelona as he was in charge of a lot of the tactics and work on set-pieces.

If he decides to remain a manager, Enrique will still want Moreno, Pol and Valdes as part of his backroom staff at Chelsea, should he agree terms.

Chelsea insist they have yet to hold talks with anyone and that Conte’s position remains the same.

Standard Sport revealed on Tuesday the Italian had given his squad three days off after the 4-1 rout at Watford on Monday. Conte’s intense training methods have taken their toll with eight players suffering hamstring problems so far. It is also understood a number of the squad are feeling the strain with three months of the season to go.

Another manager being considered by Chelsea is Napoli coach Maurizio Sarri and they have been given some encouragement by the news that talks with the Serie A club over a new contract have stalled.

Napoli president Aurelio De Laurentiis is trying to extend Sarri’s deal and remove a release clause worth £7.1million. He is also looking to pay improved terms of £3.5m-a-year, which is considerably less that the £9.5m-a-year Conte earns at Chelsea.

But Sarri has called off negotiations because he wants to concentrate on the title race with Napoli leading the table, one point ahead of Juventus.