Chelsea close to confirming next manager whose arrival will immediately see ‘several’ players sold
Chelsea are on the verge of appointing Mauricio Pochettino as their next manager, a report has revealed.
Pochettino recently became the favourite to take charge of Chelsea after Julian Nagelsmann withdrew from the race. Frank Lampard is currently in caretaker charge of the club after the sacking of Graham Potter recently.
Chelsea have been considering their options for Potter’s permanent replacement, eager not to rush like they may have done when they chose him to succeed Thomas Tuchel in September.
But links with Pochettino have been getting stronger and now The Guardian has suggested that he is close to being appointed as the next Chelsea manager.
According to the report, there have been several positive talks between Pochettino and Chelsea, whose search process has been led by sporting directors Laurence Stewart and Paul Winstanley.
Although there are still some final details to overcome and he has not yet been offered the job formally, he could be confirmed as their next manager ‘soon’.
An agreement could even be reached before the end of the season, although it is not yet clear whether he could take over from Lampard or would wait until the summer to begin his work.
Whichever way, Pochettino has become the leading contender to fill the Chelsea vacancy ahead of other options like Celtic’s Ange Postecoglou and Burnley’s Vincent Kompany.
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Pochettino to push out several Chelsea players
One interesting – if not entirely unpredictable – subplot is that, per the report, Pochettino’s appointment would be followed by an exodus of ‘several’ players as Chelsea aim to trim their squad.
The current squad size would be hard for anyone to manage, and it seems Pochettino has made that clear. Who might be in the firing line isn’t referred to by The Guardian.
But in turn, Pochettino could be backed with ‘significant funds’ to make signings of his own. Chelsea have spent heavily in both transfer windows since Todd Boehly and Behdad Eghbali took charge of the club, and that trend could yet continue.
Pochettino, 51, could be returning to the Premier League after previous spells with Southampton and Tottenham. After leaving the latter in 2019, he went on to have a spell in charge of Paris Saint-Germain in Ligue 1.
Since last summer, the Argentine tactician has been waiting for an opportunity to return to management. Rather than doing so with his former club Spurs, it now looks much more likely that he could be on the Chelsea touchline next.
Given that the club are currently in the bottom half of the Premier League table, he might not have any European fixtures to oversee during what would be his debut season in charge of Chelsea.
After arguably overachieving with Tottenham, only time would tell how far Pochettino could take a club like Chelsea.
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