Following additional discussions this week with the club, Mauricio Pochettino is allegedly orally accepting the position of manager of Chelsea.
The transaction is expected to be finalised before the end of the week, and an announcement will likely be made before the season is over, according to the Blues.
Pochettino, who has been jobless since leaving PSG last year, met with Chelsea personnel in Spain on Monday after a series of encouraging conversations that helped him edge other candidates like Julian Nagelsmann, Luis Enrique, and Vincent Kompany for the vacant managerial position.
According to Italian journalist Fabrizio Romano, just the “final details” need to be worked out, and both the manager and the club expect to reach a deal quickly.
Even if Pochettino’s appointment is announced prior to the end of the season, it is reported that interim manager Frank Lampard would continue to lead Chelsea.
The Blues have already made two unofficial approaches to the former Tottenham manager, first in 2020 and then again in 2022 after Thomas Tuchel left.
Owner Todd Boehly has taken notice of the Argentine’s reputation for developing players, fostering young players, and playing attractive football. Boehly was especially taken aback by the Argentine’s thorough, long-term plans for a number of Chelsea’s players.
Pochettino will be the fifth manager in the Boehly era, which is still young—less than a year old, to be exact. Pochettino’s innovative five-year tenure at Tottenham implies he’ll probably meet the criteria. The American billionaire is eager to appoint someone who can lead a long-term project.
Without a doubt, he is the finest Tottenham manager of the Premier League era. He transformed the north London club from top four contenders to Premier League and Champions League contenders while working with a (quite) limited budget.
Despite having led the team to their first-ever Champions League final a few months earlier, he was fired in November 2019 due to the team’s poor start to the season. He joined PSG just over a year later. He won three significant awards there in just 18 months, but he was fired in June 2022, just a few weeks after winning the Ligue 1 championship.