Mauricio Pochettino has decided to let go of a number of senior stars at Chelsea ahead of his arrival at the club on July 1st, as per CaughtOffside.
Pochettino saw his appointment as new manager confirmed by Chelsea after their final league match against Newcastle United, ending weeks of speculation over his appointment by the club.
The Argentine manager has begun working with the club on resizing the squad and has decided against keeping loan stars Joao Felix and Denis Zakaria, while also deciding with the club to put contract talks for N’Golo Kante on hold temporarily.
Pochettino inherits a bloated and unbalanced squad at Stamford Bridge, with 33 players having featured for the club in 2022-23, and a further 20 players set to return from various loan spells. The former PSG manager needs to trim the squad to a manageable size to get the best out of the players.
Chelsea will not look to negotiate permanent deals for Felix and Zakaria, who are both registered on loan at the club, allowing them to return to Atletico Madrid and Juventus, respectively.
Kante is in the final year of his contract at Stamford Bridge and has struggled for fitness this season. He was reportedly close to agreeing a new deal with the club midway through the season, but a new injury seems to have put that deal in jeopardy.
Mauricio Pochettino set to lead revolution in Chelsea squad
Pochettino was appointed by Chelsea because of his good work in developing young players in the past and the bulk of Chelsea’s players are under the age of 23, making them perfect for the Argentine manager.
🚨🔵 João Félix will NOT stay at Chelsea next season. Pochettino has decided, João returns to Atléti.
“We have been informed that Poch does not count with João Félix for Chelsea. He will return here, we’ll see… we’ve nothing planned”, Atlético president Cerezo has announced. pic.twitter.com/81i7fYauWG
— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) May 30, 2023
Pochettino’s style is based on heavy pressing and counter-pressing, making the aging Kante somewhat dispensable, given his recent injury record.
Similarly, Felix has not been known to be a hard worker off the ball and did not manage to leave a huge impression in his expensive loan spell from Atletico Madrid. Zakaria also failed to make an impression as he hardly got enough chances to impose himself on the squad.
Felix played 16 games in half a season for the Blues after costing around £9m in loan fees. Kante missed eight months of the season and played only nine matches all season as he struggled with injuries. Zakaria also featured only 11 times for the Blues this season.
Pochettino has been given the license to remodel the Blues squad to make them more competitive and more players are expected to depart in the coming weeks, with players like Manuel Ugarte and Moises Caicedo being looked at as potential additions to the squad.
