Chelsea and Mauricio Pochettino set to enter the next step of their talks
Chelsea and Mauricio Pochettino have advanced to the next round of their discussion on the appointment of the Blues manager as the club chooses a timeline for his hiring.
For many Chelsea supporters, (h/t Independent) the news that Julian Nagelsmann had been removed from consideration for the position of Chelsea’s next manager has come as a shock.
The Argentine manager wowed the Chelsea board during their initial hiring discussion, and the Blues are now contemplating hiring him for next season.
Although nothing has been decided yet, Vincent Kompany has also been shortlisted as another favourite contender for Chelsea manager.
As he maintained constant communication with co-owner Todd Boehly, discussions with the former Paris Saint-Germain manager moved quickly this week as the likelihood of selecting the German diminished.
Smart call?
While Chelsea management maintained that the former Bayern Munich manager was never the top choice, Luis Enrique was another front-runner who had previously been left off the list. The former Tottenham Hotspur manager might take over at Chelsea if he impresses the board.
Pochettino is undoubtedly a smart manager, as evidenced by the fact that throughout his tenure at Tottenham, his team often finished in the top four, and he even took them to the 2018-19 Champions League final, where they fell to Liverpool.
Dele Ali and Son Heung-min both flourished under his leadership, demonstrating that he is a great manager who can foster young players’ development. However, many would argue that his time at PSG was a failure despite a world-class squad.
It isn’t clear if ‘Poch’ has the personality to lead a dressing room full of superstars over a consistent period of time. We are talking about established superstars here, rather than a group of players that he moulded and won their loyalty over during his five-year-plus stay at Spurs.
More Chelsea News:
- Chelsea are ‘moving quickly’ to beat Arsenal and Barcelona in Vitor Roque race
- Julian Nagelsmann leading Luis Enrique in race to become Chelsea manager
- Chelsea agree to send Anthony Barry to Bayern Munich to work with Thomas Tuchel
The 51-year-old could be one of the safer options on the market right now. He has Premier League experience and tasted silverware at PSG in the form of a Ligue 1 title. We can’t know for sure how a manager will perform at Chelsea until they are actually hired.
One can never foresee such things. It will be about going with the manager that seems to be the least riskiest hire on paper and Pochettino could be just that. Todd Boehly and co. lost the privilege to make risky hires after their surprising and needless calls to fire Thomas Tuchel, hire Graham Potter and then for some reason, Frank Lampard.