Mauricio Pochettino is back in the Premier League, taking charge of Chelsea for his third spell in charge of an English club. He arrives at Stamford Bridge after a season of turmoil for the Blues, who have spent £600m since the takeover of owner Todd Boehly. Pochettino has turned down a number of potential suitors since leaving PSG in July 2022, but has decided that Chelsea fits his needs. He was determined to make sure that he made the right choice as to his next employer and initially turned down Boehly’s Chelsea until he was offered more control. He has received approaches from Benfica, Athletic Bilbao, Aston Villa and Nottingham Forest, as well as Sevilla, Nice and Leeds United, but none have ticked as many boxes as Chelsea have.
Pochettino had a rushed ‘marriage’ with Paris St-Germain, with just five days over the Christmas period from initial contact to the signing of the contract back in January 2021, and with the relationship ending 18 months later. He had to deal with the thorny problem of being the first coach to have Kylian Mbappe, Lionel Messi and Neymar together, and the perception was with three of the greatest players in the world at his disposal, they should then win everything – it is never as simple as that. He was there merely to keep everything on an even keel and to ensure the megastars remained in their comfort zone, and these are things that have little to do with coaching.
An onerous and draining season and a half at PSG left him needing to recharge his batteries, so he returned to Japan as a tourist with his family. He has done a lot of coaching masterclasses along with his assistant Jesus Perez, who will join him at Chelsea, as will first-team coach Miguel D’Agostino, his son Sebastiano, a sports scientist, and goalkeeping coach Toni Jimenez. He has also spent much time helping younger coaches work towards their coaching badges, while learning from their more youthful approach as the game continues to evolve.
Pochettino is conscious that, unlike at Espanyol, Southampton and Tottenham, PSG was the first club where he had not left something of real value. He needs to return to his essence, with all his passion and intensity, not dissimilar to the relationship he enjoyed with his players at Spurs. He needs to have the energy to be able to mould players, know that the players are listening to him and have the authority to ensure that this is happening. He needs to control the agenda as much as possible and gather around him people who can understand everything about the club, what makes it tick and how he can control matters off the training pitch. Most importantly, he needs time – a year will help, two years will guarantee the redirection and recovery of this massive club.