Mauricio Pochettino, Todd Boehly and Christopher Nkunku - How Chelsea get over their dreadful season
After what can only be described as a s***show of a season, Mauricio Pochettino has quite the job on his hands to turn things around at Chelsea.
Having run through Thomas Tuchel, Graham Potter and Frank Lampard in his first year in charge of the club, Todd Boehly has now turned to Pochettino to improve things.
A year on from losing his job at Paris Saint-Germain there's a chance that Poch has actually arrived at a club that's even more of a madhouse, which is borderline impressive.
Despite the dreadful season they've put behind them, the team will still be expected to make the top four so we've outlined what needs to be done to get there come next May.
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The most important thing
No matter what Bohely does over the next year he needs to trust the people who he's put in place to do their jobs and not be tempted to keep visiting the dressing room.
He especially needs to have faith in Pochettino whose time at Tottenham Hotspur proves he's best when given the time to grow his team.
The owner got away with sacking Tuchel in favour of his own man and the position Potter left in was virtually untenable but Poch has to be given the next two years at least.
Failure to do that will just result in another reset very quickly, whilst the 'hire 'em/fire 'em' model worked for Roman Abramovich it doesn't mean the new owner should be following it.
Top transfer target
Seldom does a team spend £600 million on transfers in just one year and somehow forget to sign a world class striker, but that's exactly what Chelsea managed to do.
The only number nine they did sign was Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and that worked out as badly as everything else at Stamford Bridge in the past year.
Only Wolves, Nottingham Forest, Bournemouth, Everton and Southampton scored fewer goals in the league and Kai Havertz top scored with seven.
Christopher Nkunku looks like he's on his way from RB Leipzig and he's scored 36 Bundesliga goals in the past two years so that should be an improvement.
If Pochettino really wants to burn the bridges linking north and west London then he should put a cheeky bid in for Harry Kane.
Who needs to go
Arguably getting rid of players is far more important for Pochettino than who comes in, especially after some players were forced to get changed in the corridor at the club’s training ground recently.
As many as 15 players have been rumoured to be heading out the door at Stamford Bridge, including Mateo Kovacic and Mason Mount.
That might leave the Blues short of midfielders with N'Golo Kante having moved to Saudi Arabia but it's a case of needs must if the new manager is going to bring in his own signings.
Aubameyang will obviously be leaving the Premier League for the second time in 18 months and could move back to Barcelona, for the second time in that spell.
The club's near army of players out on loan are likely to be amongst those moved on or just let go on a temporary basis for eternity.
Other additions
Midfield is the obvious area of strength despite breaking the British transfer fee record in order to bring in Enzo Fernandez just a few months ago.
The manager really wanted Sporting's Manuel Ugarte but they pulled out of a move to sign him and the 22-year-old is off to PSG instead.
The club have already reportedly opened talks with Southampton midfielder Romeo Lavia, after he impressed during his first season on the south coast despite the team getting relegated.
Moises Caicedo, Joao Palhinha or Wilfred Ndidi are other alternatives if Pochettino decides to add some more Premier League experience.
A goalkeeper also looks like another position that could be strengthened with Andre Onana a top target, Diogo Costa at Porto could be an alternative.
Illan Meslier is another who has been linked but his form in the second half of the season for Leeds United might put any suitors off.
One more thing
As previously stated there needs to be an injection of goals into this Chelsea team and perhaps the answer is already on the books at Stamford Bridge.
Right now Romelu Lukaku is a footballing nomad with Inter Milan almost certainly not able to afford him and the striker having previously not seemed interested in returning to Chelsea once his loan is over.
Perhaps Pochettino can persuade him to come back to the club and be the manager to get more out of the former Manchester United striker, god knows someone other than Antonio Conte has to do it eventually.
The Belgian was starting to come back into some decent form for Inter in the second half of the season, even if the Champions League final didn't go well at all.
The alternatives are trying to get rid of a player on a reported £325,000-a-week when few can afford him or hope that Inter will take him in a swap deal for Onana.
Topics: Chelsea, Christopher Nkunku, Football, Mason Mount, Mauricio Pochettino, Premier League, Romelu Lukaku, Todd Boehly, Spotlight, Transfer News
Ryan Sidle