Chelsea have agreed a deal to appoint former Tottenham boss Mauricio Pochettino as their next head coach.
The 51-year-old Argentine, who is set to return to the Premier League after being sacked by Chelsea’s London rivals Spurs in November 2019, will take over from caretaker manager Frank Lampard at the end of this season and an announcement is expected later this week.
Pochettino’s trusted backroom staff of Jesus Perez, Toni Jimenez, Miguel D’Agostino and son Sebastiano Pochettino are all set to join him at Stamford Bridge.
Pochettino will permanently succeed Graham Potter, who was dismissed at the start of April after less than seven months in charge.
Despite spending £600m in the last two transfer windows, Chelsea are in the bottom half of the Premier League and will end the season without a trophy, while they will also not play in European competition next season.
Pochettino has been out of work since being sacked by Paris Saint-Germain last summer after 18 months in charge of the French side, having guided them to the Ligue 1 title in 2022 and the French Cup the year before.
The ex-Espanyol boss managed Spurs for five years from May 2014 but failed to win a trophy at the north London club.
He led them to the 2019 Champions League final, which they lost to Liverpool, and also guided them to the 2015 League Cup final and a second-place finish in the 2016/17 Premier League season, with Chelsea winning both competitions.
“There is still the formal sign-off to come but that is expected to be a formality now that this agreement has been reached. And it is quite surreal, with it being a manager, certainly in English football, who is associated with Tottenham Hotspur, Chelsea’s rivals.
“Mauricio Pochettino knows that he will have a big job on his hands at Chelsea with rebuilding. The squad is huge, the numbers need to come well down.
“We also heard Harry Kane talk this week about the values that were created under Mauricio Pochettino, and that is something that he has, you would say, as his biggest strength. He knows how to bring a group of players together. He is very much a people person, somebody who can galvanise and work with what he has got.
“Chelsea have spent a large amount of money, but he will have money to spend as well you would expect to tweak and add further strength in certain positions. But what has become clear over the last few weeks is that he will be the next Chelsea manager, and it appears now that Chelsea have got their man.”
Sky sports
