It’s sure to be a busy summer for Mauricio Pochettino at Chelsea, as the Argentinian gets to work on unravelling the mess that owner, Todd Boehly, appeared to put the Blues in with his spending over the last couple of transfer windows.
The American can’t necessarily be blamed for his lack of nous in how things work in English football, however, buying up so many players when there were already more than enough in situ certainly didn’t help the likes of Thomas Tuchel, Graham Potter and Frank Lampard to do their best work.
If Pochettino can get things back to a more manageable level before the start of the 2023/24 Premier League campaign, there’s no reason why the Blues can’t finish next season in much better health than the season just gone.
That will require some manoeuvring in the current transfer window, and to that end, transfer guru, Fabrizio Romano has some specific updates.
‘Chelsea have also had positive conversations with Inter – their relationship is very good, but the feeling is that the situation of some of the players being discussed won’t be easy to resolve,’ he wrote in his exclusive CaughtOffside Substack.
‘Inter want Kalidou Koulibaly as a priority target, but also Romelu Lukaku, and Inter have asked for both of them on loan. However, Chelsea said ‘no’ – they only want permanent bids, or nothing. Inter will try again, while Chelsea also asked about Andre Onana, though he will cost big money, so it’s not an easy negotiation.
‘Chelsea don’t want to pay crazy money like £80m, but talks will continue, so let’s see if there’s an important breakthrough soon.
‘I’m aware there have also been reports suggesting Mauricio Pochettino is prepared to continue with Kepa Arrizabalaga as his number one next season, but I’d keep this situation open for now. It’s possible that Chelsea will stick with Kepa, but not guaranteed yet.
‘It’s fair to say that a ‘keeper like Onana would be very expensive and I can understand if the board decide to focus on other positions, but let’s see what happens because Onana, or someone like Mike Maignan, would be a fantastic option.’
The real issue for Pochettino of course is having the absolute backing of Boehly and his board.
If the owner has learned one thing over the short time he has been the steward of the west London outfit, it’s that having a ‘trigger finger’ isn’t necessarily the best way for him to conduct his business at Chelsea.
He has to let his manager have a good run in the job because it’s absolutely going to take time to get the Blues back to where they belong – and no amount of money is going to change that trajectory.