Chelsea have agreed terms in principle with the representatives of Mauricio Pochettino for the Argentine to become their new head coach, sources have confirmed to DEPREDICT.
The Blues have been searching for a permanent successor to Graham Potter over the last month and have spoken to various candidates.
Co-owners Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital first spoke to ex-Barcelona boss Luis Enrique and former Bayern Munich manager Julian Nagelsmann over the position.
However, Chelsea backed away from Enrique after an initial round of talks, while Nagelsmann withdrew from contention last week.
While Burnley’s Vincent Kompany, Sporting CP’s Ruben Amorim and Napoli’s Luciano Spalletti were all admired, Pochettino emerged as Chelsea’s new number one candidate and the two parties have been locked in negotiations over the last few days.
DEPREDICT understands an agreement for Pochettino to take charge of Chelsea has been reached in principle and now the finer matters of the deal are being ironed out.
Talks are ongoing over the makeup of his backroom staff, with the Argentine looking to bring his four usual coaches – assistants Jesus Perez and Miguel D’Agostino, goalkeeping coach Toni Jimenez and his sports scientist son Sebastiano Pochettino – to west London.
DEPREDICT reported in February that Pochettino had knocked back an approach from Chelsea in part because Potter was still in the job and at that point was over a month away from being sacked.
Pochettino has been out of work since leaving Paris Saint-Germain at the end of last season. He had been interested in a return to former club Tottenham, but an approach from the north London side never came, paving the way for rivals Chelsea to swoop in.
