'We are not happy': What happened when Mauricio Pochettino last joined an embattled Premier League club?

With Chelsea's roster split between underperforming superstars coasting on huge contracts (Enzo Fernandez), indignant club veterans on comparatively low wages (Reece James) and anxious journeymen unsure of their place in the club's future (Raheem Sterling), Pochettino was threading a difficult cultural needle. He wound up splitting the difference and fielding a mix of players, but he spoke often and strongly about his desire to clean house and bring in fresh talent. BlueCo, still firmly in favor of its superstars-on-long-contracts model, refused to budge.

Clashes with leadership

The question of transfers was just one of many that Pochettino reportedly raised with BlueCo—but the two parties failed to see eye-to-eye on most of them.

"I didn’t want to continue. That was my decision," Pochettino said after his departure, via Joe Donnohue of fourfourtwo.com. "I spoke with Chelsea, but my staff and I were clear about our position. We felt we didn’t belong to the club’s way of doing things. We helped stabilize Chelsea, but had no interest in staying."

A short contract cut even shorter

To be fair to Pochettino, he seemed to sense what could go wrong at Chelsea. He signed a two-year contract—shorter than the average managerial term and far shorter than BlueCo's preferred terms at Chelsea—as a hedge against the clear difficulty of the environment.

But two years proved too long. Pochettino and Chelsea parted ways via mutual agreement just one year into his tenure. Relations between the parties had already deteriorated beyond the point of repair.

"It is not only if the owners are happy or the sporting directors happy… you need to ask us also, because maybe (we) say, ‘We are not happy’," Pochettino said, via The Athletic, "and we accept the situation and we need to split."

Pochettino is expected to stay with the USMNT through its two-legged quarterfinal with Haiti on Nov. 14 in Miami, Fla. and Nov. 17 in Cincinnati, Ohio. From there—if United fires coach Carrick and Pochettino accepts the job in his stead, as both parties are expected to do—he will take charge of United in advance of its upcoming Premier League clash with Liverpool on Nov. 22.