Pressure growing on Pochettino at Chelsea - Romano

Stuart Telford

• 6 Feb 2024 10:35 GMT
• 3 min read

Mauricio Pochettino is coming under increasing pressure at Chelsea who have made a decision about the Argentine's future according to transfer specialist Fabrizio Romano.

Chelsea have spent more than £1 billion on players since Todd Boehly took charge of the club in May 2022, and although Pochettino only joined at the start of the season, he has been party to significant number of new arrivals.

Nicolas Jackson, Moises Caicedo and Enzo Fernandez are among his most-used players, while Mykhailo Mudryk is perhaps the signing most struggling to justify the exorbitant fee paid for him.

There were fresh calls for Pochettino's head on Sunday, with sections of the Stamford Bridge faithful singing Jose Mourinho's name during the 4-2 loss to Wolves. But there will be a stay of execution for Pochettino.

Romano: Chelsea 'not planning an immediate change'

"The pressure is growing around Mauricio Pochettino at Chelsea - this is the reality," Romano explained in his CaughtOffside column. "Of course, we know at Chelsea that there is not one person making the decisions, [with] the owners, the directors, and so it can take some time before they make a final decision.

"While the pressure is growing on Pochettino, the feeling remains that the preference is to remain with Pochettino and then to assess the situation at the end of the season. The situation has not changed in terms of their decision, they are still with their manager and not planning an immediate change of coach."

Meanwhile, a report from the Daily Mail has emerged claiming that Chelsea can't afford to sack Pochettino, even if they wanted too, with any potential pay-off to the Argentine and his backroom team counting towards spending rules this season.

The Blues need to raise around £100 million in players sales next summer if they are to satisfy Financial Fair Play regulations. They failed to offload Trevoh Chalobah and Conor Gallagher this winter, and could only offload Armando Borja on loan to Fulham.

All three sales would have counted as pure profit, with the trio all academy graduates.