When Mauricio Pochettino arrives at Stamford Bridge to take over as the new first-team manager, the Argentinian needs to get to work straight away on a number of issues.
Chelsea have had a god awful 2022/23 campaign and the positive aspect for Pochettino is that the only way is up from this point.
With such a bloated first-team squad, the most likely scenario once he gets to work at Cobham is to ship out those players he knows he definitely doesn’t want, potentially tie down those who are wavering about whether they should jump ship or not, and massage the egos of those he wants to lead his side to future glory.
One player who already appears to have one foot out of the exit door is Mason Mount.
According to The Athletic (subscription required), both Liverpool and Bayern Munich are credited with an interest in the England international who only has a year left on his current deal.
It would appear that the midfielder and the Blues are poles apart in terms of agreement on a new contract, but the Daily Mail note that Pochettino sees Mount as a key player.
Given that he’s been at the club since he was six years of age, it would be a wrench for the midfielder to leave, and perhaps Pochettino can play on that aspect if he’s given the leeway to be able to enter into discussions with him regarding a new agreement.
Whether or not any discussions are successful, they will need to take place quickly in order for the powers that be to know what the squad is going to look like for 2023/24.
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