The most recent information about Mauricio Pochettino’s exit and Chelsea’s plans during this busy time as they look for the Argentine’s replacement After months of conjecture, Chelsea officially announced on Tuesday night that Mauricio Pochettino was leaving his position as head coach.
The move, which is said to have been made by mutual accord, comes after the Argentine captained Chelsea to a highly dramatic sixth-place result in the Premier League during their inaugural campaign at Stamford Bridge.
The Blues concluded the season with a bang, winning their final five league games and beginning to show some real progress.
But that wasn’t enough to keep Pochettino employed. Football.london understands that the controversial end-of-season evaluation concluded on Tuesday, at which point both parties decided that the head coach should step down.
It is said that even though Pochettino and his coaching staff left the club less than a year into their tenure, they have no ill will towards the organisation.
Chelsea has already laid some foundation in that regard, but the search for a new head coach will now commence.
Among the candidates under consideration is VfB Stuttgart’s 42-year-old German manager, Sebastian Hoeness.
football.london understands that certain Chelsea supporters are huge admirers of Hoeness’s style of play, which has been compared to that of Hansi Flick, his fellow German.
Hoeness prefers his side to counter-press, and in order to facilitate this, he plays with a very high backline.
He guided Stuttgart to an amazing Bundesliga second-place result in the just ended 2023–24 campaign.
During the course of the 38-game league season, the German team scored 78 goals, indicating their attacking football style, while conceding six fewer than Bayern Munich, who finished one spot below them.
Another player on Chelsea’s shortlist is Kieran McKenna of Ipswich Town. The 38-year-old, who is currently among the most promising young managers in the game, just guided the Tractor Boys to the Premier League following an incredible season in the Championship.
The Chelsea board might be drawn to Ipswich’s football philosophy, which helped them score 92 goals the previous season—more than any other team in the division.
Likewise, Enzo Maresca of Leicester City, the player who finished ahead of McKenna the previous season, has also been brought up.
The 44-year-old Italian was formerly a member of Manchester City’s coaching staff under Pep Guardiola. In June 2023, Maresca departed from the Citizens to assume the position of Leicester’s manager, and he has not returned.
It is evident that he has drawn some inspiration from Guardiola, as his play at King Power Stadium has been compared to that of the Spanish manager.
Maresca would frequently urge his full-backs to invert in order to generate extra alternatives in the middle of the pitch during the 2023–24 season, which saw the Foxes dominate the Championship.
This is something we saw Pochettino do with Marc Cucurella and Malo Gusto in his final games as head coach of the Blues.
As one might anticipate, Maresca’s primary goal is possession-based football. But if he were to be named Chelsea’s next head coach, it would just be his third senior managing position in the professional game of football.
