Poch won’t land silverware for Chelsea - he’s not a winner

MAURICIO POCHETTINO’S imminent arrival at Chelsea is an interesting one. Yes, he built a great side at Tottenham but he didn’t win anything and although I’m sure he’ll make Chelsea contenders again, I don’t think he’ll land any silverware for them because I don’t think he’s a winner, he just gives you a whiff of winning. It’s one thing winning in France with Paris Saint-Germain — if you don’t win something there then for God’s sake what are you doing? — but if you want to go to Chelsea you’d better make damn sure you’re a winner and I’m not sure he is. His return to the Premier League has also complicated matters for Daniel Levy’s search for a manager because Pochettino popping up at Chelsea looks like something Tottenham should have done. Pochettino would have you believe he’d have gone back to

Spurs if offered the chance so Levy now has to get this right for his own credibility. There is a section of the Tottenham fanbase who are rabid and there’s also a more measured section who understand what he has tried to achieve in stabilising the club and understand that they punched above their weight, given their financial might compared to others. But even that sympathetic part of the fanbase will find it difficult to justify Levy bouncing from Jose Mourinho to Nuno Espirito Santo to Antonio Conte to someone who does nothing again. If Levy gets this appointment wrong it could be very hard for him to recover any ground with the club’s fans and the whole situation has been compounded by Pochettino going to Chelsea. This next appointment is fantastically important for Levy. He needs to find the next

Jurgen Klopp, someone who can bring the club and fanbase with him and who understands they can’t compete with the wealth of City, United or Chelsea. If he gets it wrong again, not only will Tottenham not get back in the top four again any time soon, they won’t even get back in the top six.