Pochettino must wait until Chelsea hold end-of-season review to learn fate
Manager faces appraisal days after next week’s final game Argentine could also seek clarifications from owners
Chelsea will stick to their plan of holding an end-of-season review which will determine the future of head coach Mauricio Pochettino.
Pochettino will have one year remaining on the contract he signed last summer, although Chelsea hold an option to extend it by a further 12 months.
Chelsea’s intention since hiring the Argentine was always to assess his performance, together with the performance of the club as a whole, at the end of his first season in charge.
That is why Pochettino has never been in danger of being fired despite disappointing results, such as the 5-0 thrashing at Arsenal last month or when supporters chanted against him during the 2-2 draw at Brentford in March. But it also explains why assurances over his future beyond this season are yet to be given.
Pochettino has suggested that he will seek clarification on issues from the owners and sporting directors at the end of the season, which means his future may not simply be decided by the club.
The end-of-season review, which is likely to include Pochettino, sporting directors Paul Winstanley and Laurence Stewart, and members of the coownership team of Behdad Eghbali, Todd Boehly and Jose E Feliciano, is expected to take place in the days after the final game, against Bournemouth a week on Sunday. Chelsea do not want a situation where the club and Pochettino are waiting weeks or months to assess their first campaign.
The general upward trend since the start of the year, together with recent performances and results, has boosted Pochettino, and Boehly appeared to offer him encouragement this week. Pochettino recently said he had not been in direct contact with Chelsea’s owners and has suggested that questions over his future should be directed towards them, as well as Winstanley and Stewart. Speaking at a Sportico conference in Los Angeles on Wednesday, Boehly said: “We’ve seen the last 2½ games... in the second half at Aston Villa [2-2 draw] and Tottenham [2-0 win] and West Ham [5-0 win] where we played beautiful football.
“It was so fluid, it was exactly the way we drew it up, when we came out of the back, built up and moved up the pitch, [it was] very organised and the number of shots we had. In those 2½ games, you could really start to see what we were working on coming together.” Chelsea are seventh in the table, which would be enough for them to qualify for next season’s Europa Conference League. While that would not satisfy their ambitions and could, in theory, lose the club money, it would offer young players valuable experience and the chance to win a trophy. Chelsea’s new director of global recruitment, Sam Jewell, has started work after a period of gardening leave at Brighton. Jewell will report to Winstanley and Stewart.