Chelsea have finally announced what we all already knew – Mauricio Pochettino will be our new head coach.
Now it’s time to work out how on earth the new man turns things around.
Ben Jacobs of CBS Sports has been all over this story from the first moment, and no sooner was the announcement out than he dropped a long thread about what is to come.
He noted that firstly, “outgoing remain vital.” That’s not just in a financial sense either. Pochettino wants a small squad and the co-sporting directors have a task on their hands shifting so much deadwood.
Outgoings remain vital. Pochettino is intent on creating a strong dressing-room bond and he needs a manageable squad size to do this. He will work very closely with Laurence Stewart and Paul Winstanley. An exciting appointment and one #CFC have been thorough with.
— Ben Jacobs (@JacobsBen) May 29, 2023
One player who won’t be going however is Levi Colwill. Another Tweet from confirms how important he’s going to be for Pochettino. There is apparently “no intention to sell or loan” the centre back this summer.
Pochettino’s contract doesn’t officially begin until July 1st (presumably for accounting reasons), but the real work starts now, and the weeks before that date will be full of frenzied discussions with his new colleagues about who should stay and who should go.
There is plenty of footage from this season showing all of these guys in action. The rest of us are free to move on from this dire season, while poor Pochettino is going to have to wade through all of it in his spare time. We’re not sure you could pay us to do that.
