Ex-Spurs boss Pochettino reaches ‘agreement’ with Chelsea as report reveals Lampard stance
Former Tottenham boss Mauricio Pochettino has reached a ‘verbal agreement’ to take over Premier League side Chelsea, according to reports.
The Blues have been searching for a new manager after Chelsea owners Todd Boehly and Behdad Eghbali decided to sack Graham Potter at the beginning of this month.
Coach Bruno Saltor was in charge for their 0-0 draw against Liverpool before the Blues appointed former boss Frank Lampard as caretaker manager until the end of the season.
Things have not got any better under Lampard, though, with Chelsea – who are currently 11th in the Premier League – losing all four matches under their legendary midfielder.
And the Chelsea hierarchy are now closing in on their preferred candidate with talkSPORT claiming that former Paris Saint-Germain boss Pochettino has ‘reached a verbal agreement with Chelsea’.
The former Argentina international is ‘now set to make his return to management at Stamford Bridge’ with Pochettino being away from the game for almost a year after his sacking by PSG at the end of last season.
A report last week claimed that Chelsea had whittled down their shortlist to four candidates – including Pochettino, Burnley boss Vincent Kompany and Julian Nagelsmann – but the Premier League outfit are now ‘hoping to have his [Pochettino’s] appointment fully wrapped up by the end of the week’.
But even if they seal a deal for Pochettino next week, the report adds that Lampard ‘will remain at the helm for the remainder of the campaign’.
When asked about Pochettino potentially taking over, Lampard replied in his press conference on Tuesday: “I’m not going to get involved in any future manager talk because it’s all speculation as you say. Simple as that.”
On whether he expects to be in charge for their final seven matches, Lampard added: “I wouldn’t expect anything in football. I think it’s very clear we came into this club when it was in big difficulties.
“One day to prepare for Wolves, two games against Real Madrid – the second performance was much better, a proper team performance like I want to see. The game in between that with Brighton we had to change a lot of the squad.
“There were a lot of factors, as to the four games we’ve had since we’ve been working here. The team and the club have been struggling for a while. We come in with a view to help and we’ll keep working to help in the short time. The world won’t change in a short time but we’ll keep doing our maximum to do that.”
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