Everton has made former Dortmund manager Thomas Tuchel their number one target after axing boss Ronald Koeman.
Koeman was summoned to the Blues' Finch Farm training ground on Monday to be fired in person by chairman Bill Kenwright and main shareholder Farhad Moshiri.
Also read: Barcelona star Lionel Messi to sign new lifetime contract
The search for a new manager began immediately, with highly-regarded German Tuchel - who is available after leaving Borussia Dortmund following a fall-out with club bosses last summer - top of the list of potential candidates, according to the Mirror.
Contact has already been made with the 44-year-old's representatives, but Tuchel will not rush into a decision — especially with Bayern Munich still a potential destination at the end of this season.
Everton Under-23s coach David Unsworth has been asked to take temporary charge for the Carabao Cup visit to Chelsea on Wednesday night, along with his assistant John Ebbrell, another long-serving Everton favourite. Unsworth could remain at the helm at least until the international break in two weeks' time.
By then, the board hope to have ticked off a short-list of candidates, with Tuchel at the top if he shows any interest in coming to Goodison.
He lifted the German Cup with Dortmund last season and took them to the Champions League quarter-finals. But he left after a disagreement with chief executive Hans-Joachim Watzke over a hasty decision to immediately replay a Champions League tie against Monaco, when a roadside bomb damaged the bus taking the team to the home leg and injured one of his players.
Unsworth, who also stood in when Roberto Martinez was sacked by in May 2016, has presided over a hugely successful development team at the club with young stars such as Tom Davies, Dominic Calvert-Lewin and Jonjoe Kenny emerging. The former England defender spent 11 years at Goodison as a player, and returned in 2013 to take up a coaching role among the backroom staff.
Tuchel is in the running for the manager's job at Bayern, which will be available in the summer following the recent sacking of Carlo Ancelotti, who was replaced by 72-year-old caretaker manager Jupp Heynckes until the end of the season, as reported by the BBC.
Everton will also look at other potential targets including Burnley boss Sean Dyche and Marco Silva, the Portuguese who has made such an impact at Watford. Also running in contention for the job are Carlo Ancelotti and Ryan Giggs.
