Soccer coach Mauricio Pochettino during a match Chelsea remain in talks with Mauricio Pochettino over becoming their new manager but the club have not yet ruled out other candidates. Picture: Adam Davy
Johannesburg - The Chelsea managerial vacancy is up for grabs.
Club legend Frank Lampard has killed off the small chance he had of landing the role as his interim stint is proving to be a disaster. While former Bayern Munich manager Julian Nagelsmann has been linked with the job, the favourite currently is former Tottenham and PSG boss Mauricio Pochettino.
Todd Boehly’s first season as owner of the club has been a wreck. The signs indicate that he needs to learn a great deal more about football to get the club to be a success or perhaps get football-minded people to make key strategic decisions for the club.
Boehly’s lack of football perspective was made evident early on as he apparently wanted his club to sign Cristiano Ronaldo, a player who would be a poor fit for the style of football played at Stamford Bridge.
Boehly also controversially opted to sack Thomas Tuchel who had done a decent job at the helm of the club and replaced him with Graham Potter. While Potter showed promise in his time with Brighton, he lacked the mindset needed to manage Chelsea in the challenging situation they find themselves in. It was hardly surprising that the club opted to fire him too.
Chelsea will need a long time to rebuild into a force worthy of winning the league. Next season for them should really not be about winning the league, but about rebuilding and perhaps earning a top-four finish, something they never looked like doing this season.
Pochettino is probably the best bet right now. He is a man for a long-term project and transformed Southampton into a formidable Premier League force. He also made former club Tottenham a genuine title challenger, losing out on the title narrowly twice in 2016 and 2017.
The only club in which Pochettino can be said to have been unsuccessful is PSG and he cannot be totally faulted for that. The standards are extremely high at the French giants, so much so that even Carlo Ancelotti’s time managing at the club is considered to be unsuccessful as it failed to yield the elusive Champions League title.
Some would even consider Lionel Messi’s time at the club unsuccessful. While the 2022 World Cup winner churns out 7/10 performances at the very least in almost every game he plays for the club, he has failed to spearhead it to Champions League glory.
Right now, Chelsea need someone with experience. Two of their recent candidates in Lampard and Potter proved that their direction is currently not suited to someone without experience. Pochettino has charisma and patience and will have more resources than he did at Tottenham as well. It would be a step in the right direction for the Blues to appoint him.
@eshlinv
IOL Sport