Mauricio Pochettino has reached an agreement to join Chelsea as their new head coach.
The deal’s details are expected to be finalised in the coming days, preferably by the end of the week.
Pochettino will begin his new job at Stamford Bridge in the summer, with Jesus Perez, Miguel D’Agostino, Toni Jimenez, and his son Sebastiano Pochettino serving as his backroom staff.
Mauricio Pochettino, the 2018-2019 London Football Awards Manager of the Year, will work with Chelsea’s sporting directors and interim head coach Frank Lampard before the season ends.
The Argentine has been out of the dugout since leaving Paris Saint-Germain in July of last year, where he reached the UEFA Champions League semifinals and won the Coupe de France final against Monaco.
Chelsea has been looking for a new permanent head coach since sacking Graham Potter last month, with former manager and all-time leading scorer Frank Lampard in temporary charge for the rest of the season.
Following the dismissals of Thomas Tuchel and Graham Potter earlier this season, Pochettino will become Chelsea’s sixth permanent manager in five years.
Chelsea has had a difficult season, losing to Manchester City in the third round of both the FA Cup and the League Cup, and they also lost to Real Madrid in the Champions League quarterfinals, effectively ending their chances of qualifying for Europe next season.
Chelsea, the two-time champions of the UEFA Champions League, are currently 11th in the Premier League, having won just one of their past 11 games and lost eight of them.
Pochettino had been linked with a return to Tottenham after the club parted ways with Antonio Conte in March, where he had spent the previous five years as manager.
Pochettino intends to sign a striker and a goalkeeper this summer, in line with Chelsea’s existing transfer plans, and will immediately begin working on reducing the squad size and deciding which players to sell.
