Chelsea stars rally behind Mauricio Pochettino with European dream in sight
Cole Palmer says Chelsea's players "love" manager Mauricio Pochettino and believes returning to European football would be a "step in the right direction".
By the time he broke into senior football in Argentina with Newell's Old Boys, he had it set in stone to be a central defender.
Pochettino's career would take him to France next, signing with Paris Saint-Germain in 2001 and commanding a regular place in the starting XI until he left in 2003 for Bordeaux.
Pochettino returned to Espanyol in the twilight of his career and three years after hanging up his boots, began coaching the club's women's team. Soon after he was asked to become manager of the men's first team of the Barcelona-based outfit in 2009.
He made his name as a manager in England, though, first in a single-season spell at Southampton before he was snapped up by Tottenham, who hoped he could lead the club to glory.
In 2021, Pochettino joined PSG after a short spell out of the game when he was continuously linked to some of football's most coveted positions, including jobs at Real Madrid and Manchester United.
His time at St Mary's saw him recruit Victor Wanyama and Dejan Lovren amongst others, with the latter going on to play for Liverpool.
Spurs began to show a willingness to entrust Pochettino with greater transfer funds which saw quality players begin to drip into the North London club, including Dele Alli, Toby Alderweireld, and Heung-min Son in his first two seasons.
He was part of the PSG team that won their section of the 2001 Intertoto Cup and a team that made it to the Coupe de France final but otherwise won no honours in Paris as a player.
In 2021, Pochettino enjoyed an eventful start to his time as PSG boss, guiding the team to victory in the French Super Cup and in February seeing his star-studded outfit defeat Barcelona 4-1 at the Camp Nou in his first Champions League game in charge of the team.
Tottenham reportedly wanted to re-hire the Argentinian in the summer of 2021 to replace Jose Mourinho, but Pochettino quickly declared his intention to remain in Paris.
One of Pochettino's first tasks was to decide who of that number are part of his plans and who can leave, with the club under pressure to sell players in order to satisfy Financial Fair Play rules after spending around £600million on transfers in the last 12 months.
Pochettino's young and expensive squad struggled in the Premier League in the 2023/24 season, but they did reach the final of the Carabao Cup.
However, Virgil Van Dijk’s glancing header secured a 1-0 extra time win for an inexperienced Liverpool side in the final. It was the sixth consecutive defeat in domestic cup finals for Chelsea.
Player:
Espanyol: Copa del Rey (2000) (2006)
PSG: Intertoto Cup (2001)
Manager:
PSG: Ligue 1 (2021/22), Coupe de France (2021)
Pochettino is a big believer in the notion of 'energia universal' and the interconnected nature of life and existence.
His net worth is believed to be around £24m, and he earns £10.4m a year as Chelsea's head coach.
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