As the mud settles on one other Premier League season, most managers can be switching off for just a few weeks of leisure earlier than planning for the following marketing campaign. But for brand spanking new Chelsea supervisor Mauricio Pochettino the work begins instantly.
When the Argentine opens the door to his plush workplace at Chelsea’s Cobham coaching floor he’ll discover his in-tray already overflowing.
Chelsea’s Twelfth-placed end within the Premier League was its worst since 1994 — hardly what new co-owners Todd Boehly and Behdad Eghbali imagined after they swept in after the sudden collapse of the Roman Abramovich empire.
They have sanctioned round 600 million kilos price of spending to super-size a squad that has proved far lower than the sum of its very costly elements.
Results have been so disappointing that two managers had been sacked this season — Champions League successful Thomas Tuchel in September and Graham Potter, the person Boehly mentioned fitted his “vision” for the membership, after solely 31 video games.
Club nice Frank Lampard steered the itemizing ship to the top of the season as interim supervisor, however he managed just one win in his 9 Premier League video games in cost.
No blame can be hooked up to Lampard, however for American Boehly, the appointment of the person identified within the British media as “Poch” merely has to work.
Which is why the summer time recess can be essential for the west London membership whether it is to re-establish itself as a possible challenger to Manchester City, Arsenal, Manchester United and even Newcastle United subsequent season.
On the plus aspect for former Tottenham Hotspur and Paris St Germain coach Pochettino, he takes over with the membership at such a low ebb that logic suggests issues can solely get higher.
But he nonetheless faces many challenges to make that occur.
Firstly, he should forge a workable workforce in his personal picture from a bloated squad that wants critical pruning within the coming weeks because the membership seeks to decrease its wage invoice.
Pochettino was broadly praised for his work at Tottenham the place he revived a equally under-performing membership and turned it into title contenders and Champions League finalists, though he left with out successful any silverware.
The former Argentina defender is understood for his pro-active, high-pressing soccer and appears tailored for the duty at Stamford Bridge, however he might want to fill the holes left by the membership’s scatter-gun strategy to participant recruitment.
Bizarrely, regardless of all of the lavish spending, Chelsea failed to deal with its lack of a top-quality striker, and it has additionally not likely changed central defender Antonio Rudiger.
Central midfield dynamo N’Golo Kante is not the power he was, whereas Mason Mount is reportedly near leaving the membership regardless of supporters wanting him to remain.
Pochettino should additionally get essentially the most out of his younger compatriot, World Cup-winning midfielder Enzo Fernandez, who was signed for a British document 106 million kilos however who has discovered himself mired within the mediocrity round him.
Most of all, Pochettino will need full management of every thing that goes on on the pitch, and he received’t welcome the hands-on strategy Boehly demonstrated throughout Potter’s brief reign.
So whereas Chelsea seem to have landed the perfect man to elevate them out of the opening they’ve dug themselves — a lot to the chagrin of Tottenham followers who assumed he would return to north London — the clock is already ticking and there’s no time to waste.
