If Mauricio Pochettino was presented with a to-do list at Chelsea, we could be here all day writing it.
The Argentine coach looks set to be appointed as the Blues' new permanent manager following multiple rounds of positive talks between the two parties, football.london understands. Pochettino represents himself and does not have an agent and negotiations thus far have been deemed as progressive. The 51-year-old, at the time of writing, is the clear front-runner for the vacant role.
Pochettino has been out of management since being let go by Paris Saint-Germain last summer and his return to football is set to be one of his biggest challenges to date. He is expected to take over a Chelsea squad devoid of confidence and will take one of the most pressurised jobs in world football.
Graham Potter, who was sacked by the club at the start of April, described the role as the "hardest in football" because of the pressure that follows. That was around three months into his tenure at Stamford Bridge and the rest is history.
"Change is challenging in any organisation," Potter said in January. "I think this is probably the hardest job in football because of that leadership change and because of the expectations and because of rightly where people see Chelsea."
Potter was not wrong. The club have struggled to show any signs of stability for years now. When Roman Abramovich was the owner, it was manager after manager in a long series of sackings. When Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital bought the club less than 12 months ago, things looked set to be different but that has not been the case. Boehly has already been through two permanent head coaches in his short spell in west London.
Pochettino looks to be the next man Boehly turns to as he looks to find the right character and personality to spearhead his long-term vision for the club. The Argentine will have a number of challenges in front of him to transform the fortunes at Stamford Bridge but one area he needs to address as a priority is the recruitment.
Chelsea now have a new recruitment team in charge of transfer business, with experienced figures like Christopher Vivell, Joe Shields and Laurence Stewart leading proceedings. Pochettino will undoubtedly have some sort of a say in transfer business, though, as any manager would want when being appointed.
The Argentine is set to take over a squad full of talent, mixed with players who are already world-class and some that have the potential to be in the future. Considering Chelsea have spent way over £500million in the last two transfer windows alone, that's the least you would expect.
However, Frank Lampard's team selection for Wednesday night's defeat to Brentford begs the question whether these talented players are being used in the proper way. On the bench, there was almost £300m worth of players.
Edouard Mendy (£22m), Benoit Badiashile (£33m), Ruben Loftus-Cheek (academy graduate), Noni Madueke (£35m), Mykhailo Mudryk (£89m), Christian Pulisic (£58m), Hakim Ziyech (£39m), Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (£10m) and Joao Felix (£10m loan fee) all started the game on the sidelines at Stamford Bridge. The likes of Mudryk and Aubameyang were introduced at half-time, while Madueke and Felix were brought on later in the game. But despite a positive start to the second-half, they were unable to make the desired impact as the Bees ran away comfortable 2-0 winners.
Chelsea are looking to trim down their squad in the summer transfer window with some of the players on that bench at risk of being offloaded. The likes of Aubameyang, Ziyech and Pulisic will all be made available for transfer this summer. Mendy could also be sold should Chelsea go out and buy a goalkeeper as expected.
Pochettino, along with the new-look recruitment team, have the task of trimming down what is a huge squad full of talented, but ultimately underperforming, players. Having a squad of such a substantial size like Chelsea do, it becomes impossible to keep the majority of players happy and that of course has a big impact on the morale around the training ground and the changing room.
Pochettino is known for being a great man-manager and he will need to use all of his expertise to transform Chelsea. Those talented players sitting on the bench against Brentford - ones that haven't played too much football this season or since signing for the club in January - need to be kept happy otherwise the owners' mega spending will all be for nothing.
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