Chelsea agrees terms in principle with Mauricio Pochettino as next manager

• Chelsea have reached an agreement with manager Mauricio Pochettino to take over the club
• Pochettino is a former Tottenham Hotspur and PSG manager and might join the Blues in the pre-season
• The Blues have been looking for a permanent manager for over a month since sacking Graham Potter

Chelsea have signed terms in principle with Mauricio Pochettino representatives for the Argentine to become their new manager, according to 90 MIN.

Over the previous month, the Blues have been looking for a permanent replacement for Graham Potter and have spoken to a number of applicants.

Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital discussed the post with former Barcelona manager Luis Enrique and former Bayern Munich manager Julian Nagelsmann initially.

However, following an early round of talks, Chelsea backed away from Enrique, and 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 contender, and the two sides have been in talks in recent days.

READ: How Chelsea could line up under Mauricio Pochettino

90min has reported that an agreement in principle for Pochettino to take over at Chelsea has been reached, and that the finer details of the transaction are currently being worked out.

Mauricio Pochettino is expected to take over as the next Chelsea manager and might start working from pre-season. | PHOTO: Independent |

The Argentine is in talks with his four regular coaches – assistants Jesus Perez and Miguel D’Agostino, goalkeeping coach Toni Jimenez, and his sports scientist son Sebastiano Pochettino – about moving to west London.

It was claimed in February that Pochettino had turned down an approach from Chelsea, in part because Potter was still in charge and was more than a month away from being fired.

Pochettino has been unemployed since leaving PSG at the end of last season. He had been interested in returning to his old club Tottenham Hotspur, but an approach from the north London club never materialized, allowing rivals Chelsea to rush in.

SporstLeo earlier this week reported that the Argentine’s appointment is imminent were described as “running ahead of reality” by a source, and it is known that the club is not yet ready to make an offer.

However, following a three-week search conducted by co-sporting directors Paul Winstanley and Laurence Stewart, the former Tottenham manager is thought to be the preferred option.

Pochettino, who has been out of work since being fired by PSG last summer, spent Monday in advanced talks, but other options remain open if the parties fail to reach an agreement, as happened last week with former Bayern Munich manager Julian Nagelsmann.