Pochettino slams Boehly's scattershot Chelsea recruitment

Tom Weber

• Updated: 10 Feb 2024 16:24 GMT
• 3 min read

The absurd number of new signings has hamstrung Chelsea this season, according to Mauricio Pochettino.

The Blues have become notorious for their ridiculous player turnover ever since Todd Boehly took over the club from ousted Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich in 2022. North of €1 billion has been spent on new recruits, but with little tangible success to show for it.

After finishing 12th and sacking two permanent coaches last season, Chelsea yet again languish in mid-table. The Blues have been incredibly inconsistent under Mauricio Pochettino and every time they appear ready to go on a good run of form, they undo all their good work with yet another poor showing.

Many of the players at the Argentine's disposal are very young, which has led to suggestions that youth and inexperience are to blame for the London giants' results crisis, but that is not the case, according to Pochettino.

Pochettino blames recruitment

Instead, the Argentine pins the blame on Chelsea's scattershot recruitment, which saw 13 senior players arrive at Stamford Bridge in the summer for a combined €468 million. “I am not picking the team because they are young,” Pochettino said at his pre-match press conference ahead of Monday's clash with Crystal Palace.

“I don’t want to be the coach that picks the youngest team in England. We are a young team, but we have a good balance. We have players like Thiago Silva, 39, Raheem Sterling, [Christopher] Nkunku, 26, or [Axel] Disasi."

“The problem is not that the players are so young. The problem is that the team is young. With 16 or 17 players that have arrived new from the beginning of the season, you need to build a team.”

Despite earlier claiming that they have a "good balance" between youth and experience, Pochettino eventually admitted: “At the moment, maybe it’s not so good. If not, we could be in another position. It’s obvious.”