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Mauricio Pochettino explains decision to join Chelsea despite nightmare 2022-23 campaign as he gets to work at new club.
Mauricio Pochettino has stated that the opportunity to manage talented players is what convinced him to accept the Chelsea position.
Pochettino started working for Chelsea on July 3 and conducted his first interview since being hired. The former manager of Tottenham and Paris Saint-Germain is charged with improving conditions at Stamford Bridge following a disastrous 2022–23 season.
Thomas Tuchel, Graham Potter, and Frank Lampard led the team to a 12th-place finish, but Pochettino said it was still an attractive position to accept given the caliber of candidates.
Speaking to the official Chelsea website, Pochettino said: “It is exciting for us because we love good players, players with the capacity and then talent, but also we want people who want to be with us at this club and be really open to help the club achieve want we want.
“From the beginning, the owners and sporting directors were very clear about the project and we were very excited to join them in this project. We are here to try to help the club and the fans. In the end, the most important thing in football is for them to be happy and to feel proud of us and in the way we approach games. The players need to know that. Of course, there are always up and downs in the history of football, but Chelsea is a club that it is impossible to have these up and downs. We need to be sure that we bring what the club needs to be at the top because the history of the club is to be at the top.”
'It’s a culture of winning here. We want to bring the happiness again to this great football club.' 🙌
Part one of our exclusive interview with Mauricio Pochettino! pic.twitter.com/rmWnGn3ARY
— Chelsea FC (@ChelseaFC) July 3, 2023
After an amazing shopping spree in the summer of 2022 and the first month of 2023, in which Chelsea spent more than £500 million ($635 million) on players like Enzo Fernandez, Mykhailo Mudryk, and others who have yet to establish themselves, Pochettino joins the club with the squad in a state of flux.
This summer has already seen a few high-profile departures, as the club needed to reduce both its payroll and player squad.
Pochettino’s first game in charge will be a friendly against Wrexham in the USA on July 19 as he gets into his work during their pre-season tour of the States.