Todd Boehly's desire to cap his Chelsea ownership with the addition of a global superstar continues to linger on as plans are made for his second summer at the helm. The first window was marred by the owner's pursuit of Cristiano Ronaldo despite the apparent rejection of such a move by Thomas Tuchel.
Mauricio Pochettino will be hoping for more aligned thinking this year as he gets to work with the newlook recruitment department including Paul Winstanley and Lawrence Stewart. As he readies himself for a busy summer of mass sales and key, big-money incomings, the latest links could leave him with a potential reunion.
With Neymar said to be the latest dream for Boehly and Co, it mirrors the insatiable push for Lionel Messi that Roman Abramovich found himself captured by during the mid-2010s. That alone was another marketing and footballing God that Boehly was keen to explore as an option before he chose Inter Miami.
That decision itself may well aid Chelsea's apparent exploration of acquiring football's most expensive ever player. With Barcelona unable to sign Messi it throws their chances of bringing in Manchester City star Bernardo Silva. Paris Saint-Germain are said to want him and that would leave Neymar as much more replaceable. Enter Chelsea.
Whether or not Pochettino would be on board with that is unknown. On the outside it feels unlikely that the 51-year-old desperate for high-energy pressing and total buy-in would turn to a player that forced him to scamper from his ingrained methods when they worked together in France.
However, Pochettino hardly had bad results with PSG. Even in a league that the Parisiens have dominated in recent times he managed to get them back to the top of the league having been left adrift under Thomas Tuchel. That involved winning 56 of his 84 matches and scoring more than two goals per game in that period.
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With Neymar and Kylian Mbappe as part of his Harlem Globetrotter's remake of a front-three, Lionel Messi was added at that point his principles had to be altered for a front-line simply unable to press to his demands. Despite that he was still full of praise for Neymar.
"It’s so easy with Neymar because you don’t need to do too much," Pochettino said whilst in charge at Parc des Princes. "From day one, he’s been very open to work. He’s very humble, he listens and always accepts all the instructions in a very good way.
"Brazilian players have something special inside. They love to play football because it’s like a dance. They play like they are dancing. Ronaldinho was my teammate when I was a PSG player and now Neymar. They need to feel good, to feel happy to perform in the best way."
With Neymar scoring 21 times with 16 assists in 47 matches under Pochettino he did have a good spell but when compared to the volume of output under Christophe Galtier, Tuchel, Unai Emery, Luis Enrique or even Gerardo Martino, it is a middling return. Part of this is due to the tactical struggle that Pochettino endured with the superstar options.
There was also the inevitable power battle to assert dominance over a changing room of stars. "In an interview I was once asked who I think is the best: Lewandowski, Benzema or Messi? I said: Messi!" Pochettino recalled.
"The next day Neymar came up to me and said: 'So,so.' I had to justify myself and remind him what question I had been asked - and that he wasn't even an option. Then we both laughed."
Although a comedic example in good faith, it highlights the issues that Pochettino had with Neymar in Ligue 1. Whether he would be able to get more out of him in England at the age of 31 is unknown.
He left the club after less than two years in charge following Lille's shock title win in his first season and was still moved on even after being 15 clear of second placed Marseille in 2021/22. It is a spell tinged with regret and a sense of what might have been, he still says there was plenty to love from working with such superstars.
“It was an amazing experience for me,” he said. “They make your life easy because they are very humble. They are very nice, approachable, personal approach. It’s amazing in the way that they treat you.”
He also explained: "It [PSG] was the experience we needed, the experience of living with big stars and interacting at the top level of football. It was the challenge of putting yourself in a difficult situation and trying to make such a special club work. You need to constantly adapt because there was too much greatness.
"For Barca to have Messi or for Madrid to have Cristiano is a blessing. But when you put in too many players who all need their place and to be number one, there can be confusion. In the end, when you play, it's 11 players with one ball. There was a penalty, and who takes it? It's not even a coach's decision."
However, it was his treatment of Neymar that drew one of the biggest criticisms of his career so far. Brazil manager at the time, Tite, was frustrated at the use of Neymar on the wing at PSG rather than as a central threat. “He's not a problem, he's a solution," the coach said.
“They say Neymar will make more mistakes playing there. But it's his position that makes him make more mistakes, because everything he does in creative terms there will be decisive.
“If a coach plays Neymar on the wing, I will call him a donkey. It considerably restricts the creative capacity of a player with these qualities.
“Creativity is not constancy, it is contingency, it is circumstantial. He will make more mistakes, yes, because his creative ability is where he is required.”
Pochettino is publicly praising of Neymar but that may not mean he is willing to sanction a transfer for the 31-year-old down the line at Chelsea.
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