Pochettino swayed by Chelsea role change having ‘rejected’ Todd Boehly job offer before Potter
Todd Boehly reportedly ‘offered’ Mauricio Pochettino the Chelsea job before they hired Graham Potter, with a key change to job role now persuading the former Spurs boss to sign the second time around.
Pochettino is widely expected to take the helm at Stamford Bridge with contracts reportedly now being drawn up by the Blues hierarchy after a ‘verbal agreement’ was reached between the two parties.
But the Argentinian could have been in charge from September when Chelsea sacked Thomas Tuchel, with Pochettino at that point rejecting Boehly’s advances.
That’s according to Spanish journalist Guillem Balague, who took to Twitter to explain that Pochettino ‘rejected’ the Chelsea owner’s offer as he was told he wouldn’t have the ‘control’ he now appears to have been promised.
Balague wrote: ‘Chelsea gets a hungry manager, who have analysed to the detail the rights and wrongs of his jobs, who will now have more control than the first time he was offered the job by Boehly (rejected by Poch then) and who arrives to Stamford Bridge at the right time. When direction and criteria are needed.’
Pochettino was also on Tottenham’s shortlist as they too look for a new permanent manager.
But Balague claims Spurs are on the lookout for a ‘less experienced’ boss like Vincent Kompany.
He added: ‘It feels Pochettino and Spurs are in different places right now. Spurs are after a less experienced manager, the new ‘Pochettino’, hence the interest in Vincent Kompany.
‘The only contact related to the Spurs job with Poch was indirect and nothing was offered.’
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Julian Nagelsmann, at one point odds on to join Chelsea, is now back in contention at Spurs after talks with the Blues broke down.
But the former Bayern Munich boss has two key demands before he considers taking on the role in north London.
Nagelsmann has reportedly told the club that he is not willing to take over until the summer, and wants the ‘decisive say in transfer dealings’.
