Chelsea will be relatively pleased with how Mauricio Pochettino has begun his reign at Stamford Bridge after following Gary Neville’s advice to appoint him as Graham Potter’s replacement. The Premier League side endured a nightmare first season under Todd Boehly’s rule, finishing 12th in the league and failing to win a trophy in cup competitions. But Pochettino has restored order and pride to Chelsea with a long-term plan in place, proving Neville correct in his decision to back the Argentinian.
Potter lasted only seven months in the job after he was poached from Brighton in a heavy £22m compensation deal, with the Englishman overseeing a dismal run of form of just two wins in 16 games.
He was axed by American billionaire Boehly in March 2023, with former assistant Bruno Saltor taking temporary charge for one game before Frank Lampard saw out the season as caretaker boss.
Chelsea had lined up Julian Nagelsmann as their top target to replace Potter at the helm and opened talks with the former Bayern Munich coach. But just days later, the German’s agent confirmed he had ended discussions with the west London club after rejecting them.
Other targets such as Luis Enrique, Vincent Kompany and Ange Postecoglou emerged as options for the Blues, before the owners settled on approaching Pochettino, who had been out of work for eight months after being sacked by PSG in June 2022.
At the time, Neville felt the Blues should consider appointing the former Tottenham boss over Nagelsmann because other high-profile bosses would want to spend hundreds of millions to build the squad they wanted.
“Everything Chelsea are saying, and Todd Boehly is saying… they spent £600m and done their spending apart from a centre-forward,” Neville said on Sky Sports’ Monday Night Football TV show in April 2023.
“If they sign Zidane, Enrique, Simeone, they will want another £300m. They won’t like some of the players they have signed. They need a manager that will inherit and like what they have got. I think that man is Mauricio Pochettino.”
Neville’s squad-building prediction turned out to be wide of the mark, with the 51-year-old overseeing a massive transformation in the summer after 17 players left and 11 arrived with a net spend of £120m.
But the former Manchester United defender turned pundit nailed the identity of the manager after Pochettino signed a two-year deal with the option of a third in June.
A rocky start to his reign has since shown more promising signs ahead, with Pochettino widely regarded as the most important figure at the club. Chelsea beat high-flying Tottenham on his first trip back to the club, while a 4-4 draw with champions Manchester City further demonstrated their ability to compete with the very best teams – a component that was missing under Potter.
Meanwhile, Nagelsmann was overlooked for vacant roles at Spurs and PSG before deciding to replace Hansi Flick as Germany’s head coach. However, the 36-year-old’s reign has not been as comfortable as he might have liked, watching his side lose 2-0 to Austria in their most recent international match, and Chelsea will be pleased with how their choice has worked out so far.
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