(Football news) Mauricio Pochettino was officially announced as the new Chelsea manager this week. Chelsea had a torrid last season and now it is up to Pochettino to recover from it. The Argentine has already started the work as he is working on transfers. There will be a lot of movement in the summer and there are expected to be more departures than arrivals. Chelsea will not play European football so they can completely focus on the three domestic competitions. It is a transition year but Pochettino will still be expected to deliver some success.
The first decision Pochettino took was to not make Joao Felix’s loan move permanent. Felix was not successful at Chelsea despite costing a lot of money even for a loan. However the team he played in was dysfunctional and there was a lot of potential in the Portuguese. The other loanee Pochettino has decided not to keep permanently is Denis Zakaria who will return to Juventus. Zakaria didn’t get enough chances as the midfield was crowded. The decision to let him go was always on the cards as Chelsea can’t afford to have too many players in the squad like last season. Other than that there will also be a few players who will be sold.
Mason Mount is reportedly keen to join Manchester United but the two clubs are way off in terms of agreeing a transfer fee. Ruben Loftus Cheek is another player who is set to leave as he is negotiating with AC Milan. Mateo Kovacic is generating strong interest from Manchester City and Chelsea are open to selling him. Apart from that Thiago Silva and N’Golo Kante are both out of contract this summer. Both players want to stay but Kante is closer to staying than Silva. Chelsea will want to keep them due to the experience the pair has which will be crucial for an otherwise young squad.
