Maurizzio Sarri is barely a year old in Chelsea after replacing Antonio Conte last summer.
However, his future is already in doubt after a turbulent season at Stamford Bridge.
Chelsea’s hopes of finishing in the Premier League top four hang in the balance, although they are in the quarter-final of the Europa League.
Sarri has also had issues with some of his players, most notably goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga who refused to be substituted late on in the Carabao Cup final defeat to Manchester City in February.
However, Chelsea have been slapped with a two-window transfer fan after FIFA deemed them guilty of breaching rules over the signings of minors.
That means if a new manager was to come to Stamford Bridge, he would not be able to make any additions to the squad until the summer of 2020.
And former Chelsea right-back Melchiot believes any potential candidate for the job may not want it for that reason.
“They might not have an option, that is where the tricky part is,” Melchiot told Express Sport.
“If they get rid of Sarri now, I don’t know if another manager wants the job because he doesn’t have the possibilities to change things around.
“So if you need to get a new manager in and that manager can’t add any quality players to this squad, he might not want the job.
“He might say ‘hey, I might sit this one out and wait for another team to come’.”
Chelsea initially had a strong start under Sarri and were unbeaten in all competitions until the 3-1 loss at rivals Tottenham in November.
Melchiot says he was surprised by how well his former club started the campaign but admits they have not been able to bounce back from their mid-season blip.
“At the beginning of the season I was doubting the situation because he didn’t have the possibility to bring in as many players that he wanted,” Melchiot added.
“So he knew he had to work around what he already had.
“I think he kicked off really well, by my surprise as well. I was like ‘wow, this is going super well’ and then you got that slip.
“And we all know that in a season you’re always going to get a bump and you have to react from the bump.”