Mauricio Pochettino leaves Chelsea – What happens next?

Despite strong finish  

It is an incredible turn of events. Chelsea and manager Mauricio Pochettino will leave the club after an agreement to mutually terminate the club was reached by both sides, as initially reported by The Telegraph. All parties came to an agreement to terminate the contract after a meeting with sporting directors Paul Winstanley and Laurence Stewart, as well as co-owner Behdad Eghbali. According to the report, the agreement to go their separate ways was reached on Tuesday morning. 

Chelsea then confirmed the news with a press release on Tuesday evening. “On behalf of everyone at Chelsea, we would like to express our gratitude to Mauricio for his service this season,” Winstanley and Stewart said in a club statement. “He will be welcome back to Stamford Bridge any time, and we wish him all the very best in his future coaching career.” Added Pochettino: Thank you to the Chelsea ownership group and sporting directors for the opportunity to be part of this football club’s history. The Club is now well positioned to keep moving forward in the Premier League and Europe in the years to come.’

Pochettino took over last summer from interim head coach Frank Lampard and, after a disappointing start, led Chelsea to a sixth-place finish in the Premier League. Since matchday 24, Chelsea have lost just one out of 15 games to finish the season strong. Only Arsenal (40 points) and Man City (39 points) collected more points than Chelsea (32 points) on that 15-game stretch. But it wasn’t enough for the bosses and Pochettino now becomes the sixth manager in the last five years to be fired by Chelsea. Pochettino, who, according to The Telegraph, couldn’t fulfill the bosses’ expectations, will now receive a significant severance payment. 

Potential candidates to replace Pochettino are Sebastian Hoeneß (VfB Stuttgart), Michel (Girona), Kieran McKenna (Ipswich Town), who is also linked to Brighton, and Enzo Maresca (Leicester City). Some of those names might be unrealistic, however. Transfermarkt understands that Hoeneß, for example, has zero desire to leave Stuttgart this summer. The Munich native has also rejected a move to Bayern Munich. A former Bayern coach might be a serious candidate. Thomas Tuchel has been heavily linked with a return to his former club. Sources have suggested that there were already conversations between the two parties. Another candidate is Roberto De Zerbi (formerly Brighton). 

Chelsea has spent €468 million on new players ahead of and during this season, more than any other club. On the flip side, player sales worth €270m—that too is the most in the world—have created a net deficit of €198m on the transfer market this season.