Mauricio Pochettino: Chelsea the greatest English team of the last decade

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Mauricio Pochettino: Chelsea the greatest English team of the last decade

Mauricio Pochettino believes Chelsea must draw upon their history of winning as they look to build an exciting future under his management.

The Argentine reported to the club's Cobham training ground for the first time on Monday, having accepted the task of rejuvenating the Blues' fortunes.

Chelsea finished a lowly 12th last season, losing 16 of their 38 games while scoring at an average of just one goal per game. Thomas Tuchel and Graham Potter were both sacked despite the club spending a truckload of money under new Todd Boehly-led Clearlake Capital ownership.

After taking their time in finding a permanent replacement for Potter, who lasted only six months in the job, Chelsea managed to persuade Pochettino to take over the reins despite his close ties to fierce rivals Tottenham Hotspur.

Pochettino spent five years in charge of Spurs, leading them to the Champions League final in 2019, before an 18-month spell in charge of Ligue 1 giants Paris Saint-Germain.

But he will now attempt to rebuild Chelsea from the ground up, with particular emphasis on establishing the right culture at the club for the years to come.

"For me, it is a pleasure and honour to now be involved with Chelsea Football Club. We are so excited, and I know Chelsea very well, it is one of the greatest clubs in the world. So of course, it was easy for us to make the decision to move here," Pochettino said.

"It is exciting for us and what we want is to bring the happiness again to this great football club. We will work hard, play in a way the fans can enjoy football, and the history of Chelsea is to win - but it is important also in the way we are going to build those victories.

"I think it’s important and it’s a culture of winning. In the last 10, 12, 15 years, Chelsea is the greatest team in England," Pochettino continued on of the importance of the club's history.

"I know very well the Premier League and what the culture of Chelsea means. I think our fans are excited to again be on the road of trying to win.

"Of course, we are excited. We are excited to work with a very young team, with a different approach than in the past. But I think we all need to understand that we have to work really hard and create a very good atmosphere at the training ground to build success for the team in the next few years."

Pochettino's job has been made slightly easier by Chelsea's ability to shift a number of players from their overly bloated squad in the early part of the summer transfer window.

Kalidou Koulibaly, Edouard Mendy, Mateo Kovacic, Kai Havertz and Ruben Loftus-Cheek are five established players to have departed Stamford Bridge for good money, while N'Golo Kante has also moved on after taking up a lucrative contract offer in Saudi Arabia.