Paul Merson has urged Chelsea owner Todd Boehly to appoint a new permanent manager as soon as possible, with Mauricio Pochettino the current favourite to take over from Frank Lampard. Lampard was brought in as interim manager following the sacking of Graham Potter earlier this month, but has presided over four consecutive defeats, culminating in Tuesday’s Champions League exit at the hands of Real Madrid.
Boehly has accelerated Chelsea’s attempts to recruit a new manager in recent days, with Pochettino now the front-runner following Julian Nagelsmann’s decision to pull out of the race. Merson believes it is essential that a decision is made quickly in order to give the new manager time to prepare for a crucial pre-season campaign. He said: ‘I could get the Frank one for the Champions League that’s all they were playing for but they’re out of that now. No disrespect to Frank but they need to get the new manager in now to give him four or five weeks with this team see who the bad eggs are and the ones the manager doesn’t want.’
Pochettino is said to have impressed Chelsea’s key decision makers following a second round of talks, but Merson fears the former Spurs manager is a poor fit. He added: ‘Suddenly I hear Pochettino. I like him but this is Tottenham. The man’s got to understand, he’s American. That’s like a Yankees going to play for the Mets it doesn’t happen. It shouldn’t happen.’