England are expected to hold more talks during the international break over trying to add Chelsea goalkeeping coach Henrique Hilario to incoming head coach Thomas Tuchel’s backroom staff.
Telegraph Sport understands that Chelsea will not stand in the way of Hilario leaving to be part of Tuchel’s England team on a full-time basis, but are not keen on a part-time arrangement.
It is believed the FA’s initial plan was to try to hire Hilario on a part-time contract and allow the Portuguese to job share roles with England and Chelsea.
But Chelsea have been adamant that they do not want Hilario, or any other member of staff, to take up a part-time role elsewhere, which means the FA may have to offer him a full-time position.
Chelsea are willing to help Tuchel and the FA in their pursuit of the 2026 World Cup, but want all of their members of staff fully focused on helping the club achieve their goals.
James Melbourne has already left Chelsea, where he was head of performance analysis, to join Tuchel’s staff.
The FA have been looking at solutions to try to add Hilario to Tuchel’s backroom team, but did not want to interrupt an important stage of the season for Chelsea, when they played games against Liverpool, Newcastle United, Manchester United and Arsenal.
This international break gives the FA the chance to try to make progress on the Hilario situation, with Tuchel said to want a streamlined coaching team in place for when he officially starts on January 1.
Chelsea’s ownership are said to have an excellent relationship with FA chair Debbie Hewitt and chief executive Mark Bullingham.
Just as his incoming assistant Anthony Barry did, Hilario worked with Tuchel during his time as Chelsea head coach when the club won the Champions League and Club World Cup.
Under their previous ownership, Chelsea allowed Steve Holland to initially combine his first-team coaching job with a role as former England manager Gareth Southgate’s assistant before he resigned to take up the national team role full-time.
But the current ownership of Chelsea do not want any of their staff to have any distractions away from the club.
Follow the UEFA Nations League 2024-2025 live Football match between Greece and England with Eurosport. The match starts at 7:45 PM on November 14th, 2024.Catch
Shocking footage shows the moment violent scenes broke out in Paris tonight - as witnesses accuse a group of Israeli football fans of launching an attack on Fre
Lee Carsley is yet to speak to Thomas Tuchel about the England squadEngland took a big step closer to winning automatic promotion to the top tier of the Nations
Ministerial cars are not “free taxis to the football”, Scottish Conservative leader Russell Findlay said as he hit out at Health Secretary Neil Gray.Mr Gray