Mauricio Pochettino is in advanced talks to become the new permanent manager of Chelsea, and has already given his assessment of the current squad to the club. According to The Times, Pochettino has informed Chelsea to focus their rebuild on homegrown talent, with Mason Mount, Conor Gallagher, Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Trevoh Chalobah among the academy graduates whose futures are uncertain. Levi Colwill is set to return to the club this summer after his loan spell at Brighton and will be part of the first-team squad next season. Loftus-Cheek, Mount, Christian Pulisic, Mateo Kovacic, Callum Hudson-Odoi, César Azpilicueta, Thiago Silva and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang will all have just one year left on their respective contracts this summer. N’Golo Kante is out of contract at the end of the season, while Romelu Lukaku’s loan arrangement with Inter Milan is not expected to be made permanent.
Should Pochettino be appointed, he will be joined by his four close confidants in assistant and head of conditioning Jesus Perez, first-team coach Miguel D’Agostino, goalkeeper coach Toni Jimenez and his son Sebastiano, a sports scientist. Perez, D’Agostino and Jimenez have been at Pochettino’s side for most of his managerial career, joining him at Southampton and Tottenham and following him to Paris Saint-Germain in 2021. Pochettino has been without a job since parting ways with the French giants last year.