Mauricio Pochettino has been in charge of Chelsea for a week and will have started to formulate the size of his task moving forwards. Laurence Stewart and Paul Winstanley detailed the club's plan in their meetings in advance of the former Spurs boss taking charge in west London but after a number of days on the training pitch, working with this coaching staff, Chelsea's path and the plan ahead of the new season will become clearer to the 51-year-old head coach.
Chelsea's focus this summer has been on reducing the number of players in their squad, and they have been successful in doing so following a situation that led to difficulty managing training sessions, changes to the changing room and disillusioned players. Kalidou Koulibaly, Edouard Mendy, Kai Havertz, Mateo Kovacic, Mason Mount and Ruben Loftus-Cheek have all been sold already this summer.
The work that has already taken place has been a continuation of a club in transition, with the Blues having spent in excess of £600million in the first 12 months of Todd Boehly's and Clearlake Capital's ownership. Before the club's lavish January spending that saw the arrival of the likes of Enzo Fernandez, Mykhailo Mudryk and Noni Madueke, Raheem Sterling was the statement signature 12 months ago.