Chelsea eye Juande Ramos: What has former Tottenham Hotspur boss done to attract Roman Abramovich?

With Jose Mourinho seemingly on the brink of his second departure from Chelsea following their ninth Premier League defeat of the season against pacesetters Leicester City, attentions have already begun to turn to the identity of his likely successor.

Experienced Dutch boss Guus Hiddink is perennially linked to such vacancies at Stamford Bridge, owing to the fact that he won the 2009 FA Cup and became a stabilising presence in his previous stint as caretaker manager following the ill-fated reign of Luiz Felipe Scolari. While it is not a surprise to see his name linked with the job as Mourinho's future grows increasingly uncertain, one shock figure to have emerged as a potential short-term replacement is Juande Ramos.

According to The Times, the 61-year-old is being considered – along with Hiddink – for a possible temporary role that would see him attempt to halt Chelsea's alarming slide before giving way to a more viable long-term candidate. If it came to pass, such an appointment would mark the Spaniard's first return to English football in seven years and arguably Abramovich's most unpopular personnel decision since deciding to hire Rafael Benitez as interim manager following the departure of Roberto di Matteo in November 2012.

For those who may not be too knowledgeable with regards to Ramos's previous exploits, here IBTimes UK provides a handy timeline of his career to date...

Following an unremarkable playing career, during which he appeared as a midfielder for the likes of Elche and Alicante, Ramos managed Levante and Barcelona B before taking the reins at Rayo Vallecano in 1998. During his three-year spell in charge at Campo de Futbol de Vallecas, he guided the club to promotion to the top-flight before securing a comfortable ninth-place finish. Los Franjirrojos also made something of a splash in the Uefa Cup under his tutelage, beating Lokomotiv Moscow and Bordeaux en route to the quarter-finals in 2001 before a 4-2 aggregate defeat to eventual finalists Deportivo Alaves.

From there, he spent a year in charge at Malaga before succeeding Joaquin Caparros as manager of Sevilla in July 2005. It was during his two-year stay in Andalusia that Ramos really made a name for himself, winning Europe's second-tier club competition for two successive years with a 4-0 rout of Steve McClaren's Middlesbrough and a nervy penalty shootout triumph over domestic rivals Espanyol in Glasgow.

Finishing fifth in his first season, he also guided the club into the Champions League a year later after ending 2006/07 five points adrift of Real Madrid and Barcelona in third. His time at Estadio Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan also saw Sevilla win the Copa del Rey as well as the Uefa Super Cup and the Supercopa de Espana, beating Getafe, Barcelona and Real respectively.

Those impressive exploits encouraged Tottenham Hotspur to recruit the strict disciplinarian as a replacement for Martin Jol in October 2007. His impressive unbeaten run in cup finals continued as Spurs collected their first major trophy in almost a decade as goals from Dimitar Berbatov and Jonathan Woodgate cancelled out Didier Drogba's first-half opener to secure the League Cup in extra-time at Wembley.

Despite that success, however, his league record at White Hart Lane left much to be desired. Ramos was dismissed and duly replaced by Harry Redknapp after just 12 months in charge as a consequence of presiding over Tottenham's worst-ever start to a top-flight campaign. After plenty of high-profile summer incomings and departures, he left North London with the club lying rock bottom, having taken just two points from their first eight matches.

That particular failure did not appear to harm his job prospects in the short-term, though. Just six weeks after being relieved of his duties by Daniel Levy, he was handed a six-month contract to replace Bernd Schuster at the helm of Real Madrid. Although he failed to win a trophy at the Santiago Bernabeu and was replaced by Manuel Pellegrini at the end of that deal, he did ensure that Los Blancos finished second after a very impressive run of 18 La Liga matches without defeat between December and May.

After leaving Real, Ramos spent just six weeks as manager of CSKA Moscow in 2009. Hired to help the Russian outfit compete for domestic honours as well as progress past the group stages of the Champions League, his unhappy tenure featured four wins and four defeats from nine matches. CSKA ended the campaign fifth in the Russian Premier League and eventually made the quarter-finals in Europe with a two-legged victory over Sevilla, before bowing out to Inter.

Ramos' most recent job was a far more long-term affair. After almost a year out of the game, he returned to eastern Europe and was handed a four-year deal to take over from Vladimir Bessonov at Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk. His time in Ukraine's third-largest city was a success, culminating in the club's highest-ever league finish in 2013 when they secured a place in the third qualifying round of the Champions League for the first time after finishing six points adrift of champions Shakhtar Donetsk.

Although his spell at Dnipro Arena represented the longest of his managerial career, the growing unrest and tensions evident in the country were understandably a concern and he eventually decided not to sign a contract extension for family reasons.

Upon his departure, Dnipro made their affection for the work he had done very clear. An official statement read: "FC Dnipro thank Juande Ramos for his fruitful co-operation and wishes him good fortune in his future career. Under his leadership, our team has played beautiful football, delighting the fans, whilst his greatest achievement was finishing second in the Ukrainian championship, providing the opportunity to play in the Champions League."