Mauricio Pochettino reveals he has not confirmed Chelsea’s captain for next season
Mauricio Pochettino has revealed he is yet to make a decision on Chelsea’s next captain for the upcoming season but hinted Reece James could be the next club’s skipper after the Blues completed their pre-season tour with a 1-1 draw against Borussia Dortmund.
The Blues were heading for their first defeat of the pre-season games when Marius Wolf scored for Borussia Dortmund in the 80th minute, but Chelsea replied just after eight minutes through Mason Burstow to conclude their tour with a draw.
The club will next face Liverpool, which will be their opening Premier League match of the 2023–24 season and Pochettino will hope to deploy a strong eleven against the Reds on 13 August at Stamford Bridge.
However, the former Paris Saint-Germain boss has another decision to make, which is to name the captain of the team next season. Reece James and Thiago Silva are the top options while Ben Chilwell has himself thrown his hat into the ring.
But he has revealed that James might be the next captain of the West Londoners following the departure of Cesar Azpilicueta. When asked why he chose James as captain today over Thiago Silva, (h/t Football.London) Pochettino said:
“No, not yet. There are still 10 days to decide before the first game. But I don’t know if we will change too much, but it is one possibility for Reece to be the captain of the team.”
If James becomes the new captain, he will play an instrumental role and wield his influence both on and off the pitch. Even though he is still young, he has already shown that he has the mentality to be a world-class player and lead his teammates.
Moreover, he is a Cobham graduate and a player adored by the fans since day 1. It will be like one of our own wearing the captain’s armband once again.
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Another choice is Thiago Silva. He is the most experienced and senior player here, and it makes perfect sense to make him the captain. But given the 38-year-old is nearing the end of his playing days, we could have to shift the armband once again next year.
Why go through consecutive armband swaps when we can hand it to James and forget about it for a decade?