Pochettino demands Chelsea transfer U-turn as £115m duo are deemed ‘instrumental to his project’
Chelsea-bound Mauricio Pochettino has reportedly ‘identified four favourites for the new era’ at Stamford Bridge and he’s keen to keep two midfielders.
It was revealed at the end of last week that Chelsea are ‘set to appoint’ Pochettino and the ex-Tottenham Hotspur head coach is due to replace Frank Lampard last month.
Pochettino has been out of work since leaving PSG last year and he has been selected by Chelsea’s board instead of Luis Enrique and Julian Nagelsmann.
The ex-Spurs boss has a major job on his hands as Chelsea are currently 11th in the Premier League, despite them spending around £600m on new signings this season.
A report from The Evening Standard claims Pochettino ‘wants to build his Chelsea squad around a core of homegrown players’.
He has ‘identified centre-back Levi Colwill, who is due to return to Stamford Bridge at the end of the season, midfielders Conor Gallagher and Mason Mount and full-back Reece James as players who could be instrumental to his project’.
Gallagher – who is valued at around £45m – was linked with Newcastle United in January and Chelsea ‘were open to offers’ for him.
Mount meanwhile is out of contract in 2024 and Chelsea want £70m for the England international this summer.
Pochettino will ‘recommend offering Mount a new deal’, while Gallagher ‘wants to stay at Chelsea under a manager who trusts him’.
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Despite this, Pochettino is ‘interested in signing a new midfielder’, while he is ‘prioritising a goalkeeper and striker in the summer’. THe report adds.
‘Selling some homegrown stars would count as pure profit under the new version of UEFA’s FFP rules, allowing the club to more easily balance the books.
‘But Pochettino’s desire to replicate what he did at Spurs by basing his squad on a group of talented, homegrown stars may prompt a different approach to the window – although the club could still raise funds by offloading Callum Hudson-Odoi and Ruben Loftus-Cheek, among others.
‘Pochettino wants to give every member of the squad a clean slate and chance to impress, but the club is under pressure to offload players before June 30 so the sales can be included in their financial accounts for 2022-23. The new head coach may therefore need to make some quick decisions on players he is happy to offload in the next six weeks.’
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