Mauricio Pochettino is the Chelsea boss. If it didn't feel real before then the images of him being paraded around Stamford Bridge with a Blues scarf and facing the media for the first time, more than a month after his appointment was announced, certainly cemented that feeling. The Blues head coach has been without a job for a year and has not managed in the Premier League since 2019.
Nevertheless, it is little surprise that his six-year stint with Tottenham will be firm in the memory of many. A time period Pochettino is proud of but not one that has stopped him from taking the reigns at their London rivals.
It should come as little surprise that, while the emphasis was Chelsea in his press conference, that it was not long before his former team was brought up and a certain former player. Chelsea struggled to find the net last season, scoring just 38 times in the Premier League, while Harry Kane had 30 strikes by himself for Spurs.
The Tottenham striker's future remains uncertain as he enters the final year of his contract and speculation over where he may ply his trade next season, or thereafter is rife. Inevitably, the moment arrived for Pochettino
“Oh my God," came Pochettino's reply, almost aghast it had taken so long for the topic to come up, but no more excited at having to answer amidst his laugh, "Repeat again?"
“Nah, I don't like to talk about players in another club, but you are talking about one of the greatest, one of the best strikers in the world. It’s not fair to talk, it’s not fair to say nothing. People are not stupid, fans are not stupid, they are so clever and they know my relationship with him was always amazing. I saw him when he was young, grow up and achieve all he was achieving and of course, we have a great relationship. At the moment we are thinking in different ways. We are not thinking about that. Of course, working hard to try to provide the squad with good qualities. I don’t like to talk about players and more than that players who were close to me.
Pochettino admitted the club were trying to improve Chelsea's situation in front of goal, however.
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He added: "We are working on that and still we have to time to work. I think for sure we are going to add players that can score and then we are going to try to find the best way to play to score not only with the offensive players – if not midfielders and players in different positions.
"We’ll see. It depends on the situation and the circumstances. We are working. Football is really dynamic. What we have today maybe disappears tomorrow. We need to be ready to …. [if] we need more or not. Or maybe we go to the pre-season and we realise that maybe we need to improve in different positions or to add more players that can score. Or we have enough. It’s really dynamic and we are going to assess every day the situation."
There was surprise in many quarters that it was not Tottenham reintroducing Pochettino as their manager. The Lilywhites saw the departure of Antonio Conte before the Blues parted ways with graham Potter and saw a long wait before appointing Ange Postecoglu, leading many to believe they had missed an opportunity.
Pochettino would not be budged on whether Daniel Levy made an approach earlier in the year however.
He said: "I’m not going to talk [about that]. I don’t want to say anything in one way or another. We have a very good relationship with Daniel and with all the Tottenham people. I think there’s no point. We need to look forwards. What am I going to say – yes, no or maybe. And what is it going to change? Nothing. I feel very proud about the past and I am so happy. You never know in football [what] can happen in the future. I am here and I am really happy to be here now, and I need to give my best and hope that all together can create again an atmosphere and all the excitement that was in the past in this football club and try to lift trophies – that is our objective."
The 51-year-old will not face his former side until November, and will experience a decent wait to see the reaction from his former supporters. He is adamant 'nobody is going to change the story of when we were there together for nearly six years' but also not worried about the reception he may receive.
"I don’t believe that the fans will change, I think. But, what can they do? Nothing. For me now it is about being focused on trying to do my job here and build a very good relationship with the fans here and of course what can I say or do if that happens? It’s up to them to keep or not the feelings they were feeling in the past."
