Mauricio Pochettino has taken matters into his own hands in order to become the new Chelsea head coach. It is understood that the Argentine is close to being appointed as the third permanent manager in 10 months under the new ownership, but wasn't present to witness the game against Brentford on Wednesday night.
The 51-year-old has emerged as the leading candidate to take over from Frank Lampard at the end of the season with a deal to bring him to Stamford Bridge getting closer and closer. He isn't going about it in an entirely orthodox way, though.
football.london understands that the former Tottenham boss is continuing his method of working by holding the talks with Chelsea himself and not via an agent, as would be usual. Whereas an intermediary would normally be used to discuss contracts and staff appointments, Pochettino prefers to do things on his own.
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In 2016 he opened up on the matter, saying: "The best agent for me, is myself. When I stopped playing football, I stopped my relationship with my agent.
"I always had one agent. I want to manage my life. I'm not disagreeing with a manager that has an agent. I think I can deal with the offer.
"You need to ask [Tottenham chairman] Daniel [Levy] if I'm strong or not. I think [he is], yes. I only have one experience from the beginning. When I negotiate my contract, then we'll see."
It comes with the Telegraph writing that he is getting close to agreeing a deal to join Chelsea, using his assistant Jesus Perez in talks. It is said that he also wants to bring a quartet with him that have proven key throughout his career with Miguel D'Agostino, Toni Jimenez and son Sebastiano part of the backroom staff.
Pochettino hasn't returned to management after leaving Paris Saint-Germain in 2022 and has emerged as the clear front-runner after both Julian Nagelsmann and Luis Enrique drifted away from proceedings.
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