Can Mauricio Pochettino, who led Tottenham Hotspur’s golden era, repeat it at Chelsea?
Let’s go back in time to the summer of 2013. Tottenham sold top star Gareth Bale to Real Madrid for 101 million euros (approximately 147 billion won). Tottenham brought seven players, including Christian Eriksen, Eric Lamela, Roberto Soldado, Paulinho, Vlad Kirikesch, Nacer Chadli and Etienne Capoue, with the transfer fee obtained through the sale of Bale.
The results were not satisfactory. Tottenham, who expected to qualify for the UEFA Champions League, only managed to get a ticket to the UEFA Europa League by finishing 6th in the league. Coach Andre Villas-Boas was sacked during the season and barely finished the season with Tim Sherwood. Of the seven players, only Eriksen was successful.
Tottenham appointed Pochettino from Southampton in the summer of 2014. After the appointment of Pochettino, he boldly threw out players who were not in his power, such as Soldado, Emmanuel Adebayor, Gylfi Sigurdsson, and Andros Townsend. Young players replaced the surplus resources.
The result was a great success. Under manager Pochettino, Tottenham has developed into a team that steps on the Champions League stage every season. Hugo Lloris and Jan Vertonghen took center stage, and young players such as Eriksen, Harry Kane, Son Heung-min, and Dele Alli were in full bloom. Tottenham finished runners-up in the EPL in the 2016/17 season and reached the UEFA Champions League final for the first time in the club’s history in the 2018/19 season.
Pochettino was sacked in November 2019 due to poor performance, ending his Tottenham career. About four years later, Pochettino moved on from Paris Saint-Germain to become Chelsea boss. Pochettino, who had a lot of regrets at PSG, returned to England where he experienced success.
Chelsea made aggressive investments ahead of the 2022/23 season, the first since Todd Boley took over the club. During the summer transfer window, Raheem Sterling, Wesley Popana and Mark Cucurella wore Chelsea kits. In the summer, Enso Fernandez, Mihailo Mudrik and Benoit Badiacil joined. Chelsea spent a total of 611.49 million euros (about 890 billion won) in the two transfer windows.
He spent a lot of money, but the results were disappointing. Chelsea sit 12th in the league and miss the European stage for the upcoming season. He failed to lift a single trophy in the Champions League, FA Cup and League Cup. Only three directors, Thomas Tuchel, Graham Porter, and Frank Lampard, suffered measles.
With Pochettino at the helm, Chelsea made a major cleanup of their squad. They parted ways with key players such as Mason Mount, Kai Havertz, and Mateo Kovacic, as well as unnecessary players such as Christian Pulisic and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang. They signed Nicholas Jackson, Leslie Ugochuku, Axel Disassi and Christopher Nkunku. Most of them were young players under the age of 25.먹튀검증
There are similarities between Tottenham in 2014 and Chelsea in 2023. Both teams spent a lot of money in the transfer market, but their results were disappointing. Tottenham brought 7 people, but the final league performance was 6th, and Chelsea remained 12th in the league even after spending close to 900 billion won. They have one more thing in common. It is true that Pochettino is at the helm of both teams.
Pochettino has shown a knack for stabilizing a broken team at Tottenham and forcing young players to develop their full potential. Currently, there are many young players in Chelsea who need to improve their skills, such as Moudrik and Jackson. Can Pochettino recreate the glory of Tottenham at Chelsea? The situation is similar to when I first came to Tottenham.