It was always likely Mauricio Pochettino would return to the Premier League this summer. Many anticipated – or perhaps hoped – that the Argentine would be reunited with Tottenham Hotspur. Instead, Pochettino is reportedly on the brink of agreeing to become Chelsea’s new manager in a twist that has many fans and experts surprised.
Pochettino has been out of work since departing Paris Saint-Germain at the end of the 2021/22 campaign. His decision to take over at the Parc des Princes wasn’t particularly wise with PSG a notoriously difficult club for any manager to get a grip of – see Thomas Tuchel and Christophe Galtier for further evidence.
Chelsea have seemingly made their move for Pochettino having considered him as a managerial candidate in the past. The 51-year-old is understandably keen to work again and has achieved greater success in the Premier League than any other league. But he mustn’t ignore the warning signs around the Chelsea job right now.
Graham Potter knows all about the problems at Stamford Bridge. He lasted just seven months as Chelsea manager after being hired by the club to lead a long-term rebuild. This was after Chelsea, under new ownership, signed so many new players in just two transfer windows that Potter had next to no chance of building a team on the pitch.
Roughly £600m has been spent in the transfer market since Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital bought Chelsea from Roman Abramovich last summer. That in itself would make moulding a team with a coherent style of play challenging, but Chelsea’s approach to recruitment has been scattergun.
This doesn’t align with Pochettino and his reputation for being extremely specific in his transfer market demands. When he was at Spurs, stories emerged of Daniel Levy suggesting new signings to Pochettino only for the Argentine to bemoan the exact profile of these players. It was a source of tension over a number of years.
Boehly would be a difficult owner for Pochettino to work for. The American businessman has stood aside as interim sporting director, but still has a direct influence on Chelsea’s transfer market activity. If Pochettino was frustrated by Levy’s slap-dash approach to signing players, it’s difficult to imagine how he will be satisfied by Boehly’s methods.
At Tottenham, Pochettino thrived by clearing the decks and entrusting a talented group of hungry youngsters to handle the pressures of first team soccer. Recent reports, however, claim Chelsea are set to sell most of their young players this summer as they look to balance out their spending and satisfy Financial Fair Play (FFP) rules.
After failure at PSG and a difficult final phase at Tottenham, Pochettino must make the right decision for the sake of his own career this summer. He is still considered one of the best managers at the elite level of the game, but he must prove his worth in his next job. Pochettino has a point to prove.
Taking the Chelsea job would be a high-stakes risk. There’s no denying the high level of talent currently at Stamford Bridge, but Potter’s failure should serve as a warning to Pochettino. Chelsea is a club without an identity or direction at executive level. It will take more than a new manager to address this.
Of course, there’s also the baggage Pochettino would bring to Chelsea. By taking over at Stamford Bridge, the 51-year-old would torch his legacy at Tottenham Hotspur. There would be no going back, bearing in mind that Pochettino expressed his desire to return to the North London club after being sacked.
It could be the case that Tottenham have passed over Pochettino in their own search for a new manager with Luis Enrique and Julian Nagelsmann reportedly top of their list. Pochettino might well have preferred the Spurs job over the Chelsea one, but the Blues’ offer is believed to be the only one on the table.
Nonetheless, entering Chelsea right now would be a challenge unlike anything else in soccer management. It could break Pochettino and call into his question his standing in the sport. Potter couldn’t find answers to the problems at Stamford Bridge and there’s little to suggest Pochettino would be any different.
