Only four men have managed both Chelsea and Tottenham but come the summer, it looks as though Mauricio Pochettino will become the fifth.
The Argentine former Spurs and PSG boss is the favourite among bookmakers to succeed Frank Lampard and become the second permanent managerial appointment of the Todd Boehly era.
‘Chelsea fans are so desperate to see their team click’
Pochettino’s Tottenham links may be a source of contention for some Chelsea fans but Evening Standard football reporter Dom Smith, 22, doesn’t think that will be an issue.
Smith said: “Chelsea fans are so desperate to see their team click that I don’t think Pochettino would be tarnished by his past unless it started going south for him.
“I think he’s a good appointment given who’s available.”
Charlie Patrick, 28, a freelance sports journalist who’s written for The Sun, also thinks Pochettino is a good move for Chelsea.
Patrick said: “He ticks a lot of boxes. He’s got a proven record of developing young players, he’s a good tactician and plays an exciting brand of football.
“Some sections of the fan base won’t be able to see past the fact Pochettino was at Tottenham, and it will be the first thing thrown at him if things don’t get off to the best of starts, but the best way to answer that is by winning.”
‘They need a number nine as much as they need a new manager’
Smith and Patrick point to cutting the size of Chelsea’s squad and finding a solution to the striker conundrum as immediate priorities for Pochettino upon his arrival.
Patrick said: “The most important thing is to trim the squad down and there are similarities to when he took over at Spurs in that regard.”
Smith, founder and editor of Englandfootball.org, said: “They need a number nine as much as they need a new manager.”
A question mark remains over the future of Romelu Lukaku, who’s currently on-loan from Chelsea at Inter Milan.
Smith feels the Belgian could be part of the Argentine’s plans whilst Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s future lies away from Stamford Bridge.
He added: “I think Lukaku is an elite striker and I suspect he will come back in the summer and Pochettino is slightly more likely to stick with him at least for the beginning of the season, but it is difficult to know.
“Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang does seem like he wants to move. If he’s not going to be the main striker, he’ll want out.”
Smith doesn’t envisage Harry Kane leaving Tottenham to potentially team up with Pochettino though.
He said: “I don’t see Kane leaving Tottenham for a London rival. I think that’s very unlikely. He won’t want to win trophies at a London club that isn’t Tottenham.”
‘Chelsea and everybody else start next season on zero points and that’s their blessing’
Patrick, who runs YouTube channel Blue Brother, said it’s vitally important Chelsea finish in the top five next season and have a good run in either the EFL Cup or the FA Cup.
Smith also thinks European football should be the aim for Chelsea next season and believes Pochettino can achieve that.
He said: “Chelsea and everybody else start next season from zero points and that’s their blessing.
“Top five is what they should be aiming for, plus, to establish an identity that people could point out as the Chelsea way of playing, two things they are going to finish this season sorely lacking.
“I think Pochettino’s capable of doing it.”
‘At the end of the day, it’s a results driven business’
Smith thinks Pochettino will get similar financial backing that Thomas Tuchel and Graham Potter had under Boehly.
He added: “I think Boehly will back Pochettino to a point because he will come in with a certain level of clout and respect, but that doesn’t extend forever.
“At the end of the day, it’s a results driven business.”
Featured image credit: Jason Bagley via Wikimedia Commons under CC BY-SA 2.0 licence
