Mauricio Pochettino has emerged as the frontrunner to become the next permanent Chelsea manager, despite his his long-term affiliation with arch-rivals Tottenham Hotspur. The Blues’ hunt for a new permanent manager was reduced to a four-man shortlist, with Julian Nagelsmann and Luis Enrique further trimming the list by withdrawing their applications.
Vincent Kompany and Mauricio Pochettino were among the frontrunners to succeed Graham Potter, who was fired earlier this month. Chelsea named Frank Lampard as interim manager until the summer, but Todd Boehly is anticipated to appoint a permanent manager ahead of the 2023/24 season. Mauricio Pochettino has already met with the Blues’ hierarchy and might be on his way back to the Premier League.
Mauricio Pochettino ditches Tottenham for cross-London rivals Chelsea
Just when it appeared that things couldn’t get much worse for Tottenham, Chelsea are closing in on Mauricio Pochettino as their next manager. The decision by Tottenham to approach their former head coach late appears to be the biggest impediment to the Argentine taking on the rebuilding task at Stamford Bridge. Both clubs in London require a new manager, and Pochettino is apparently headed to west instead of north.
Julian Nagelsmann, his main competitor for the Chelsea job, withdrew from the process after his interview since he did not want to be on a shortlist. Luis Enrique too chose to quit from the race, paving the way for Pochettino. Following the failure of the Graham Potter experiment, the Blues’ owner Todd Boehly believes the ex-Spurs manager’s appointment would make sense and be a safer bet.
The Argentine moulded and enhanced a young Tottenham squad to reach the Champions League final. Chelsea’s future transfer expenditure is uncertain, but the bloated team contains a lot of raw material – as well as a lot of dead wood. During his brief tenure at PSG, Pochettino, now 51, also won Ligue 1 and the French Cup. It would undoubtedly buck the current trend of ex-Chelsea managers Andre Villas-Boas and Jose Mourinho moving to Tottenham.
Todd Boehly, Chelsea’s co-owner, has held extensive negotiations with Pochettino and the 51-year-old is now in hoping to takeover as the club’s fifth manager since the American billionaire took ownership last summer. Pochettino is expected to bring long-serving aides Jesus Perez and Toni Jiminez, as well as sports scientist son Sebastiano, to the club.
Chelsea have had four different managers this season, with Tuchel being replaced by Graham Potter in September. Despite the fact that the former Brighton manager was just fired, Bruno Saltor oversaw first-team affairs for one game before Frank Lampard was named as interim manager. Lampard became the club’s first manager to lose his first four games in charge, including 2-0 defeats to Real Madrid in the Champions League quarterfinals.