PETE JENSON: Luis Enrique is ready for Chelsea now – and could Gavi follow him? 

Chelsea have one thing going for them, and one thing set against them, as they try to persuade Luis Enrique to become their new manager: He loves English football and wants to coach in England. But he will need to be convinced they are as serious and committed as he is.

The 52-year-old regrets never playing in England and wants his next job to be in the Premier League. But he’s not someone you can say: ‘We’ll get back to you, we’ve got other candidates to see’. Either you want him or you don’t, and if you do he’ll match your commitment and then some.

The Iron Man fanatic, just back from a series of marathons in South Africa, also has an iron will. He picks his confidants carefully and once you’ve broken his trust it’s almost impossible to win it again.

It’s easy to have picked up the wrong idea about him from those live streaming sessions during the last World Cup.

‘I don’t mind players having sex the night before matches but I draw the line at orgies,’ he famously said during one Q&A free-for-all in which he spoke about everything from Gavi’s intensity to whether a Spanish Omelette should have onions in it.

Luis Enrique loves English football and wants his next managerial appointment to be in England

Enrique is an endurance race fanatic and has just completed a series of marathons in South Africa

That online streaming experiment – he vowed before the tournament to do it everyday until Spain were out – was seen as frivolous by some, and it was the biggest stick to hand when, once Spain had gone out to Morocco, his critics turned on him.

But frivolous is one of the last words people who know him would use to describe Luis Enrique. He saw the streaming as a good way of taking the pressure off of his players. What he said every day became the story back in Spain and so they were largely left alone.

He also gave all the money raised from subscriptions to the stream and donations from its 800,000 followers to a children’s hospice project in Barcelona.

He lost his own daughter Xana to bone cancer in 2019. She was just nine-years-old. He is a patron of the Enriqueta Villavecchia Foundation and their project to build somewhere where seriously ill children and their families could be cared for benefited hugely from those daft chats about onions and orgies.

That failed campaign in Qatar is his last job in football to date. Spain had the third youngest squad in the tournament with 20 players at their first World Cup but when they thrashed Costa Rica in the first game it looked as if they could go all the way.

The greatest criticism of him once the team had gone out to Morocco was that his squad had been too unbalanced lacking in a plan B. It was certainly true that he had opted not to take a target man centre-forward who might have been handy late on as Spain passed their way around Morocco but never managed to penetrate.

Chelsea co-owner Todd Boehly will have to match Enrique’s commitment if appointed at Stamford Bridge

The Spaniard hosted several Q&A free-for-all sessions over live stream during the World Cup 

When big former Stoke and Newcastle striker Joselu was subsequently picked by Luis Enrique’s replacement Luis de la Fuente in his first game in charge, and then scored twice from the bench, it seemed to underline the point.

But Spain were then beaten by Scotland at Hampden and it was a reminder that if anything Luis Enrique had overachieved in taking them to a Euros semi-final and a Nations League final.

That first squad picked post-Luis Enrique also had no Ferran Torres in it. The boyfriend of Luis Enrique’s daughter Sira was a fixture before. He joked during one of the streams when asked which player he felt most represented by on the pitch: ‘I have to say Torres because if not my daughter will kill me.’

He was accused of favouritism, as he had been when he picked Gavi for his debut when the midfielder was only 60 days past his 17th birthday and was still living in Barça’s youth academy. Gavi is represented by Ivan de la Peña, a friend of Luis Enrique, and the man who has accompanied him to London to speak to Chelsea.

No one thinks Gavi shouldn’t be in the Spain team now. He’ll be on a free-transfer at the end of the season if Barcelona don’t sort out their finances and no doubt Luis Enrique would be more than happy to take him to England where his rambunctious style would make him instant hit.

Gavi will be available on a free transfer at the end of the season if Barcelona are unable to register his new contract

Gavi made his Spanish debut under Enrique when he was just 60 days past his 17th birthday

The point about Gavi and Torres is that Luis Enrique doesn’t care. He picks who he wants and to hell with the whispers about why he might have done it.

Chelsea would have to be prepared for that sort of leadership. If they feel it’s what they need then he could be sat in the dugout at the Santiago Bernabeu in time for the Champions League quarter-final first leg against another of his former clubs Real Madrid.

This is not the first time they have wanted him. Post Antonio Conte he was also first choice but he was on a year’s sabbatical after winning nine trophies in three seasons at Barcelona and was reluctant to bring it to a premature end.

He is ready now. What remains to be seen is if Todd Boehly is ready for him.