The Premier League world has already been rocked just two days after the conclusion of the season as Chelsea‘s head coach dramatically quits the club, owned by Todd Boehly, by mutual consent, less than a year into the job.
It news comes after the 52-year-old met with the club’s sporting directors, Paul Winstanley and Laurence Stewart, and co-owner Behdad Eghbali for two days before they decided to part ways despite making the final of the 2023/24 EFL Cup.
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The shock follows a strong end to their Premier League campaign and the arrival of European football for next season, which will be the UEFA Europa League if Manchester City win the FA Cup on May 25, or the UEFA Conference League if they do not.
“Thank you to the Chelsea ownership group and Sporting Directors for the opportunity to be part of this football club’s history,” Pochettino said in a press release. “The Club is now well positioned to keep moving forward in the Premier League and Europe in the years to come.”
Meanwhile, Winstanley and Stewart added, “On behalf of everyone at Chelsea, we would like to express our gratitude to Mauricio for his service this season.
“He will be welcome back to Stamford Bridge any time and we wish him all the very best in his future coaching career.”
Who will replace Pochettino?
Pochettino, therefore, becomes the third manager not to finish his time under Boehly after Thomas Tuchel and Graham Potter were also canned, whilst interim bosses such as the Bruno Saltor and the legend Frank Lampard also attempted to steer the Stamford Bridge ship.
That means a total of five coaches have managed Chelsea since Boehly, who owns 20% the Los Angeles Dodgers organization and 27% of the Los Angeles Lakers, purchased the club from Roman Abramovich in May 2022.
According to The Telegraph, which broke the news in England, among the names likely to be considered to replace the Argentinian will be Sebastian Hoeness of VfB Stuttgart,Michel of Girona, Kieran McKenna of Ipswich Town or Leicester City‘s Enzo Maresca, a disciple of Pep Guardiola.
Meanwhile, Florian Plettenberg of Sky Germany believes Tuchel himself might even return shortly after being dismissed by Bayern Munich. The 50-year-old won the UEFA Champions League with Chelsea in 2021.
