Two Pochettino decisions 'being discussed internally' by Chelsea

Stuart Telford

• 11 Jan 2024 11:25 GMT
• 3 min read

Mauricio Pochettino faces a pre-planned end-of-season review at Chelsea, but two of his recent decisions have caused concern among the club's hierarchy.

Chelsea have spent more than £1 billion on players since Todd Boehly succeded Roman Abramovich as club owner in May 2022, but on-field results have thus far failed to follow.

Chelsea sit 10th in the Premier League this season, and although Pochettino isn't held solely accountable for that, some of his decisions have been called into question.

It is perhaps not on Pochettino that Chelsea have no world class No.9 to bang the goals in - and the Blues create more chances than they did under Graham Potter - but with Nicolas Jackson on AFCON duty, Armando Broja was expected to be given a chance up front.

Colwill and Broja calls questioned

But the Albanian was benched again as Chelsea were knocked out of the EFL Cup by Middlesbrough on Tuesday, while Levi Colwill was once again played at left-back despite being a centre-back by trade.

"Things like Levi Colwill at left-back not centre-back, or Armando Broja not starting against Middlesbrough, are being discussed internally by the football department and even senior leadership, although the latter don't influence selection," reports sometime FootballTransfers collaborator Ben Jacobs.

Chelsea could be priced out of signing their top striker transfer targets like Napoli's Victor Osimhen and Brentford's Ivan Toney with the threat of FFP regulation hanging over them, making his reluctance to blood Broja surprising.

Colwill led England to Euro U21 glory from centre-back in July, and has the second-highest potential among all Chelsea players behind Moises Caicedo according to FootballTransfers' official data partner SciSports.

Despite those two decisions, and Chelsea's lowly league position, it is understood that Pochettino's position as manager at Stamford Bridge is not under any threat as yet.