Chelsea and Pochettino part ways

Mauricio Pochettino and Chelsea Football Club have ended their relationship after a mutual agreement was reached to terminate his deal.

The former Southampton manager for Chelsea last May after a lengthy recruitment process, and Chelsea eventually looked like the one that would help return the Blues to their old glory, but the former Tottenham boss could only lead the Blues to the Carabao Cup final and ended his first season strongly to secure European football

Confirming the development, Chelsea in a statement wrote: “Chelsea FC can confirm that the club and Mauricio Pochettino have mutually agreed to part ways.”

 Following the former PSG manager out of the club are the assistant coaches Jesus Perez, Miguel d’Agostino, Toni Jimenez and Sebastiano Pochettino.

In a statement, Pochettino expressed appreciation to the Chelsea ownership group and Sporting Directors for the opportunity to be part of the club’s history. 

“The club is now well positioned to keep moving forward in the Premier League and Europe in the years to come,” he added.

In revamping the squad, Chelsea spent over  £400m on new signings – many of them under the age of 25 – during the summer but also sold nearly £250m worth of players. Senior members of the team that were sold include Cesar Azpilicueta, N’Golo Kante, and Mateo Kovacic.

Pochettino, with his youthful struggled slot this season, ended the Premier League campaign strongly with five successive wins and secured European football with a sixth-place finish, better than last season’s 12th.

Pochettino had, after a final-day win against Bournemouth, said he was unsure if  Chelsea would be conducting a reported end-of-season review to decide his future, but following talks on Monday, a decision was taken that he would step down.

 As of the time of filing this report, more details are yet to emerge concerning this latest development, which will now see Chelsea searching for another manager.

The Blues will have many candidates to choose from, with Thomas Tuchel, who won the second Champions League trophy for them, leaving Bayern Munich this season.

With such inconsistency at the management level at Stamford Bridge, many top-class managers would expectedly turn down the offer with a look at alternatives that would allow them to settle and develop their team over time.