Pochettino warns expensive Chelsea signings have no excuses next season
By Story Agencies, July 9, 2023Mauricio Pochettino has backed Enzo Fernandez, Mykhaylo Mudryk, and Raheem Sterling to live up to their expensive price tags, but Chelsea’s new head coach warned his struggling stars that there will be no excuses to underperform next season.
Pochettino is keen to lift the mood at Stamford Bridge and he is aware the amount of change at Chelsea has made it difficult for new signings to settle. Fernandez and Mudryk have been inconsistent since joining for huge fees in January, Sterling has not found his best form since his Ksh8.4 billion move from Manchester City last summer and Marc Cucurella has also been disappointing since signing from Brighton for Ksh10.9 billion.
“Now is a new star. They need to show their real quality. But we need to create a platform for them to feel comfortable and to create the space for them to perform and improve.
“These players were arriving in difficult circumstances and it’s a great challenge for us because we love to work in this way. We need to give them the opportunity to show they are able to cope with the pressure to play for Chelsea.
“It’s not only the responsibility of [the coach] always to feel [the mood] with everyone. The player has the responsibility to try to adapt and have his own motivation and try to work really hard and let us manage to try to achieve the very best,” Pochettino said.
British transfer
Chelsea broke the British transfer record when they signed Fernández from Benfica for ksh18.9 billion. The Argentina midfielder had just won the World Cup but has not displayed his quality on a consistent level.
“It was important now to rest a little bit because he was one year and a half playing, playing, playing. It was arriving from Argentina to Portugal from Portugal to World Cup and from World Cup to England and never stop for one year and a half.
“He’s young and energetic but young players also need to rest and clean the mind and he arrived in Chelsea not in the best circumstances,” he added.
Pochettino intends to hit the ground running but Chelsea still have problems to solve. They do not have a shirt sponsor and have not found a goalkeeper to replace Kepa Arrizabalaga. Some of Graham Potter’s backroom staff remain at the club and Chelsea have not found buyers for Romelu Lukaku and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.