Pochettino to Chelsea? Yeah right.
Chelsea may soon be on the market for a new manager, but links to Mauricio Pochettino seem ridiculous.
Chelsea are “considering moving for Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino if Antonio Conte leaves the club this summer,” per Sky Sports sources. What does that actually mean? Chelsea are probably considering a move for all sorts of managers. That doesn’t mean there is any real chance they make a move, let alone hire Pochettino.
This would, to be fair, be a smart move for Chelsea, with Conte seemingly unhappy at the club and Pochettino continuing to impress in north London. There aren’t many more accomplished managers with Premier League experience. The question is why on Spurs would let him go, and why Pochettino, who has three more years on his contract, would choose to move from a Champions League club to a Europa League one.
It just doesn’t add up. Pochettino would surely get a larger transfer budget if he moved clubs, but as we saw this year, spending doesn’t necessarily equate to success for the Blues. Pochettino would be silly to leave Spurs, especially after all the progress he has made there. Abandoning the project now, for a club has dysfunctional as Chelsea, would seem wildly out of character.
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Other names linked to the Chelsea job, including Luis Enrique and Maurizio Sarri, make a lot more sense as replacements for Conte. The former is out of work since leaving Barcelona at the end of 2016-17, while the latter may feel he has nothing left to offer at a Napoli side who narrowly missed out on the title and may sell some of their star players this summer.
As for Pochettino, while there’s no reason to doubt Chelsea are “considering a move” for him, there’s extensive reason to doubt the idea their interest will translate to securing his signature. Pochettino may feel he needs to leave Spurs one day to reach the level he desires, but it’s not this day, and the level he desires is certainly not Chelsea in their current state