Coach Mauricio Pochettino agreed to lead Chelsea and will replace Frank Lampard at Stamford Bridge from June 2023.
On May 13, The Athletic , Sky Sports and The Times - three of the most prestigious media channels in the UK - reported that Chelsea had reached an agreement with Pochettino and the deal would be announced in the next few days. However, the sources did not disclose the contract term or Pochettino's income.
Transfer news expert Fabrizio Romano also used the familiar phrase "Here We Go" to announce the deal, and revealed that the Argentine coach will start his new job from the beginning of June.
Pochettino will be Chelsea coach from June 2023. Photo: Sky Sports
Pochettino was the first choice of co-owners Todd Boehly and Behdad Eghbali and the board, following the recommendation of sporting directors Laurence Stewart and Paul Winstanley. The Argentine coach also showed the commitment that the Chelsea board wanted, proactively contacting Stewart, Winstanley, technical director Christoph Vivell, members of the youth team and other departments.
This fits their vision of a cohesive club rather than a manager who is solely concerned with the first team and working towards short-term success. They are said to be on the same page about areas where the team needs strengthening, about players who need to be sold, and all want Mason Mount - a midfielder who has been a symbol of the success of the club's youth development programme - to stay.
According to ESPN , long-time assistant Jesus Perez, first-team coach Miguel D'Agostino, goalkeeping coach Toni Jimenez and his son Sebastiano - a sports scientist - will join Pochettino's coaching staff at Stamford Bridge. This team has worked together since their time at Tottenham and are all free agents after leaving PSG in July 2022.
In the coming weeks, although he has not officially started work, Pochettino is expected to discuss with Boehly and Eghbali about transfer plans for the summer of 2023. In the last two transfer windows, the new American owners approved a total of 668 million USD to bring in 16 players.
Due to this massive shopping campaign, Chelsea had 31 players in the first team in the second half of the season, although they have not yet registered two new contracts Andrey Santos and Malo Gusto. They have also reached an agreement to buy French striker Christopher Nkunku from RB Leipzig for 60 million USD from the summer of 2023. Former coach Graham Potter was concerned that the quality of training sessions would be affected, due to having too many players and not being able to find a suitable framework.
Pochettino will first have to identify players who do not fit into his plans and clean up the squad. After that, according to British newspaper Sportmail , the 51-year-old will continue to work with sporting directors Laurence Stewart and Paul Winstanley on transfer targets, with Chelsea targeting a striker, a midfielder and a goalkeeper.
In attack, the Blues are eyeing Inter Milan's Lautaro Martinez or Napoli's Victor Osimhen. Pochettinho will also have to talk to Romelu Lukaku - the Belgian striker currently on loan at Inter - to clarify his future. In midfield, Chelsea will compete with Arsenal for Declan Rice from West Ham, and with Liverpool for Alexis Mac Allister from Brighton. Emiliano Martinez - Pochettino's Argentine compatriot currently playing for Aston Villa - will be an option for the goalkeeper position.
After working at Espanyol and Southampton, Pochettino began to make a splash when he led Tottenham from 2014-2019, helping the club consistently finish in the top 4 of the Premier League, reach the final of the League Cup 2014-2015 and the final of the Champions League 2018-2019. The Argentine coach led PSG from December 2020, after the team fired Thomas Tuchel. In more than a year of work, Pochettino won the 2020 French Super Cup, the 2020-2021 National Cup and Ligue 1 2021-2022.
Hong Duy
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