Former Tottenham boss Mauricio Pochettino has crossed the London divide and has agreed to join Chelsea as their new head coach.
Pochettino has signed a two-year contract (with the option of a third) at Stamford Bridge and the Argentine coach is back in the Premier League after a spell as Paris Saint-Germain manager where he won the Ligue 1 title during the 2021-22 season.
He brings Jesus Perez, Miguel d’Agostino, Toni Jimenez and Sebastiano Pochettino to Chelsea as his coaching staff.
[ MORE: Who should be next Chelsea boss? | Sterling brace in Forest draw ]
After a season of turmoil which ended in a lowly 12th-place finish under their new American ownership, Chelsea have taken their time to appoint a new permanent boss.
Thomas Tuchel and then Graham Potter were both fired and Frank Lampard was named as caretaker boss as things further spiralled out of control in the final months of the season.
Now they have Mauricio Pochettino in charge, Chelsea have a clear direction and it will be intriguing to see how Pochettino gets on back in the Premier League.
What is the main aim for Pochettino? - By Nick Mendola
Known for taking young talent to the next level, Pochettino would take over a Chelsea squad with plenty of it.
The Blues have added myriad u-23 aged players to their first team in recent seasons, including:
- Benoit Badiashile (22)
- Wesley Fofana (22)
- Enzo Fernandez (22)
- Mykhailo Mudryk (22)
- Noni Madueke (21)
- David Datro Fofana (20)
- Joao Felix (loan, 23)
A good fit for the Blues? - By Joe Prince-Wright
On paper this all makes sense. Pochettino, Luis Enrique, Marco Silva, and Julian Nagelsmann had all been linked with the Chelsea job but Pochettino always seemed like the best fit.
Chelsea need structure and Pochettino and his staff provide it. They know the Premier League inside out and the work he did at Southampton and Tottenham are right up there among the best jobs in Premier League management over the last 10 years.
He is a coach who demands nothing but total commitment on the training pitch and loves to work with a small squad of players and develop young talent. So the first thing he will do is trim this squad and he now has a season without European competition to work them hard on the training ground and drill his ideology of intense, high-pressing football into the Chelsea squad.
Given the caliber of players that Chelsea have, and can buy, this is the chance Pochettino has been waiting for as his stint at PSG didn’t really work due to issues behind-the-scenes and with the playing squad.
Now we will get to see if Pochettino can take Chelsea’s expensively assembled squad and give them a structure to express themselves and get back to challenging for trophies and a top four finish (at the very least) in the Premier League.