On May 29th, after much speculation, Chelsea F.C. made it official that Mauricio Pochettino, the former manager of the Blues’ heated rival Tottenham Hotspur, would be the club’s new manager. Apart from managing Spurs the 51-year-old Argentinian, most recently managed one of the most high-profile clubs in the world Paris Saint Germain (PSG) from 2021-22.
Despite officially being announced and appointed as the new Chelsea manager on May 29th, his first official day on the job is July 1st. The reason is that Pochettino’s contract with his previous club ran until June 30, 2023, and due to FIFA rules, he is not allowed to fully take charge of another team until that date.
Another puzzling aspect of Chelsea’s Pochettino announcement is on the club website, you hear statements made by a multitude of people. The club owners Todd Boehly, Behdad Eghbali, José E. Feliciano, Mark Walter, and Hansjörg Wyss released a joint statement on the appointment of Pochettino. Chelsea’s co-sporting directors Laurence Stewart and Paul Winstanley also followed suit in releasing a joint statement between the two of them about the big news.
But the one person who didn’t have anything to say was the man of honor, Pochettino. While some may think this isn’t important, from a public relations standpoint doesn’t it seem weird for a new manager to not have anything to say or for the club to not have him say anything for the fans to hear?
This all circles back to Pochettino still being under contract with PSG. It will be interesting to see if, on July 1st, Chelsea decided to have a formal press conference for their new manager on his first official day on the job.
Since the season is over, that means the transfer window is now open, and Chelsea like all of their competitors are open for business and actively trying to fix the mess that went on last season. A season in which they finished 12th in the Premier League, their worst finish since the 1993-94 season.
Chelsea recently made official the signing of RB Leipzig striker Christoper Nkunku for £52 million on a six-year deal. Nkunku is someone Chelsea has had their eye on for a while, and this move was destined to happen way before Pochettino came into the mix.
On their website, Chelsea released a statement announcing the signing of Nkunku on June 20th, in it the sporting directors Stewart and Winstanley released remarks, but one person who you heard nothing from was Pochettino. Which in most cases is rather bizarre, however since Pochettino is still under contract with PSG he can’t comment. This only accentuates the odd circumstances surrounding Pochettino officially being Chelsea’s new manager.
Who knows what Pochettino really thinks of Nkunku? We will certainly find out when the Premier League season starts in August.
Pochettino not being able to be at the Chelsea facilities, hinders the club in a multitude of ways. It gives him less time to get used to his new stomping grounds, to familiarize himself with the players that are around the training facilities, and to figure out what his best possible 11 will be come the first game of the season against Liverpool on August 13th.
Once July 1st hits, it will be interesting to see if Chelsea’s activity in the transfer window heats up, along with squad movement with even more players departing from the club. Chelsea has a massive squad, whereas last season the locker room wasn’t big enough to accommodate every player, according to Thiago Silva.
When Pochettino was at Tottenham he achieved great heights during his five years at the club helping develop players like Harry Kane and Heung Min-Son and even getting Spurs to a UEFA Champions League Final. The one thing he could not do at Tottenham was win any major trophy, domestically or in Europe.
At PSG, he managed superstar players like Neymar Jr., Kylian Mbappe, and Lionel Messi. During his time there, he was able to win trophies, winning Ligue 1 in 2021-22, but also came in second the season prior. But Pochettino’s time at PSG was never going to be defined by how he did domestically, he knew that from the jump. Like many PSG managers before him, Pochettino was unable to win the Champions League, in 2021 he came close but lost to Manchester City in the semi-final.
Hopefully, Pochettino will be ready to clean up the mess that he is inheriting, and he will be given time to build this team back up because this is no easy job. One match that Pochettino will certainly have circled is November 4th when Chelsea travel to Tottenham where Pochettino will face off against his former club for the first time.