Mauricio Pochettino, the new manager of Chelsea, expressed his optimism and confidence in the squad during his introduction on Friday at a press conference held by the club in west London. Pochettino believes the team will continue to improve as he implements his strategies and wants to see results immediately.
After a turbulent season in which the club was led at various points by Thomas Tuchel, Graham Potter, and Frank Lampard, Chelsea finally settled on Mauricio Pochettino as their new manager at the end of May. This came after the Blues had finished 12th in the Premier League standings.
The 51-year-old Pochettino, who has signed a two-year deal with the option of a further year, began his job on July 1 and will seek to improve Chelsea’s fortunes after the club’s lowest finish since 1994. Pochettino’s contract calls for a total of three years with the option of a fourth year.
“My target is to win, my aim is to win,” the former coach of Tottenham Hotspur and Paris Saint-Germain said in front of media at Stamford Bridge.
“Football is about both the present and the past. On the whole, one can never have too much to say. Because it does not seem to be a good idea, we cannot inform individuals that the creation process will take six months. It is necessary for us to establish the belief right from the start.
“I believe that we are going to have a squad that is capable of delivering in the short term and giving what we anticipate, and from the very first day, we need to think about how we can win.” Then, if we don’t win, maybe it is doable if we gradually require additional time to develop our proposal. If so, it would make it a possibility.
“(But) from the very beginning, we need to be thinking about the first game of the Premier League, and we need to beat Liverpool.”
Despite his confidence, Pochettino is well aware that there is a significant amount of preparation to be done before the team’s debut encounter on August 13 against Juergen Klopp’s side.
“It is crystal apparent to me that completing the team and having a roster that is extremely well balanced is of the utmost importance.
“The strategy called for cutting down on the total number of participants. Finding the correct profiles for the gamers we are going to add was, in my opinion, the most crucial part of the process.
“One of the challenges is that people trust my judgement…. That is the most power that you can have.”
On Thursday, Chelsea’s captain, Cesar Azpilicueta, announced that he would be leaving the club to join Atletico Madrid. His departure adds to the increasing list of players who have left the club throughout the offseason, after the departures of Kalidou Koulibaly, N’Golo Kante, and Edouard Mendy, all of whom have joined Saudi Pro League rivals.
Arsenal’s Kai Havertz, Manchester City’s Mateo Kovacic, and Manchester United’s Mason Mount, who came up through the youth system, have signed contracts to play for those three teams, which are competitors in the Premier League.
Since the club was sold in 2022 to a group led by LA Dodgers part-owner Todd Boehly and supported by Clearlake Capital, a private equity firm, Mauricio Pochettino is the third permanent manager to hold the position at Chelsea Football Club.
The Argentine said that he did not give the proposition much thought before ultimately deciding to accept it.
Pochettino went on to say, “I trust in the sporting directors Paul Winstanley and Laurence Stewart, as well as the owners, that they will provide the tools to be competitive.”
“Right from the start, I could tell we were going to have a pleasant talk since they were really open and honest with me. They revealed the strategy to us. those that need to go well and those that might go less well are the ones that need to take place before July 1 and later.
“In my opinion, they are intelligent individuals, and football is always about being intelligent and learning from one’s previous experiences. I feel fantastic.”