Mauricio Pochettino’s comments on Chelsea transfers in the January window summarized
Mauricio Pochettino’s comments on Chelsea transfers in the January window summarized
The transfer window is open and already there has been activity from Chelsea. Two players have been recalled from loan stints that did not see enough playing time in Zak Sturge and Andrey Santos, while Alex Matos is set to complete a temorary move to Huddersfield Town.
While there has been a flurry of activity, it is not expected that Chelsea’s spending will be as lavish or extensive as 12 months ago. On that occasion the Blues landed the likes of Benoit Badiashile, Noni Madueke, Mykhailo Mudryk, Enzo Fernandez, David Datro Fofana and Joao Felix.
The Blues saw their squad bloat and Graham Potter and Frank Lampard both struggled to manage a large group with a number of players with no future at the club. This month is more about stability.
Opportunities will undoubtedly be taken if they present themselves, and there is interest in adding a new defender and forward, but for the moment the Blues will not overextend themselves in the market. They will instead hope to take advantage of the right moves at the right times. That could of course, see players depart of the club can take advantage of the selling market January provides.
What the Blues could do in January has not always seen a consistent message in Chelsea’s press conferences. Mauricio Pochettino however, is in daily contact with the club’s sporting directors and will have greater involvment than when a plan was already in place upon is arrival this summer.
football.london takes a look at his comments on the January transfer window from his press conferences so far this season.
Pre-Nottingam Forest, transfer deadline day, September 1
The Blues boss was not quite looking towards January at this stage but defended Chelsea’s business despite the late nature of it. However, the 51-year-old did allude to the age of his squad, and commented on the players who already departed from the academy, with rumours still mounting at that time over the futures of Ian Maatsen and Conor Gallager.
He said: “I cannot talk about the feelings from the past, how they were treated, how the people feel, the past or what happened with the past. That was a different reality, different circumstances. How I feel now is only to hear the players, hear the people and to try to help in what they want to do and also help the club in the way they want to act, take decisions and then it’s about not to judge what happened in the past or to judge players that want to leave because of the past because too many of the players say ‘gaffer we are enjoying with you all, now we are so happy but my feeling is the club wasn’t fair in the past.’ OK. Stop. I don’t want to listen what happened in the past its to be in the present but it’s a thing that we cannot change.
“How I feel is I try to convince, not to convince, to explain the project for the future and after not be wrong in the way that we act. We need to explain to young players, be honest with them even if sometimes they don’t want to listen but it’s the truth, because it’s tough always the truth, but we need to be honest and then to create a different environment to work in the way we did and we need to work in the future.”
He added: “Who said we have all that we wanted? I am happy. Now we need to work and be improving in the next year. But I think It’s like ‘we have everything, we are so happy, we are in Disney World because the club has spent one billion’.
“We want to win every week. What is missing is to have all the players fit and for that we are going to work. We cannot sell the idea that we are in Walt Disney here.”
Pre-Fulham, September 29
Chelsea’s head coach highlighted that he hoped to be more involved in the decisions the club made, purely by his presence at the planning stage of proceedings. Already, early in the season the debate over a forward player had started, with considerations of how Christopher Nkunku and Armando Broja can step up, still present today.
He said: “The good thing, the relationship is very good with the owners and the sporting directors. I think like I told before, when the transfer window was closed, I need to be involved, more involved now, in every single decision. I think we need to start identifying what we need for January.
“I think football is very dynamic, it’s the present always. Things can change until January. Now we need to work and try to recover Nkunku and of course Armando Broja and to try and provide the team more goals and to be more solid but of course, parallel to working to improvise to improve the team and the way we assess the team for the competition. But of course, we already start to work.”
Pre-Brentford, October 27
Late October saw Pochettino keeping a very open stance of what could occur in January. The assesment of whether a forward is needed was pushed down the line.
He said: “Football is really dynamic. Maybe we are thinking in a different way two weeks ago or three weeks ago. Ready and working with the sporting directors and owners to try to be ready and the moment the transfer window is open, we can see if the team needs, if the squad needs to add some players in the position we are talking, an offensive position.”
Post-Brentford, October 28
Not so much a transfer comment at this stage but the Blues boss make clear that he was not attempting to send a message by regularly naming two goalkeepers on is bench.
Pochettino explained: “No, not really. It’s because we lose yesterday Mudryk and Enzo at the last moment. Alex Matos and Deivid Washington, the plan was yesterday to play at 7 o’clock with the under-21 and we stopped them to play, they came with us. We didn’t have another player, only to take another from the under-21 but they were playing also. That is why there are three keepers. Too many injured players and we didn’t have more.”
Pre-Spurs, November 3
These comments were not directly related to transfers but Pochettino admitted that he would prefere his side to have an English core.
He said: “Yes, agree because we are in England. Today, football is global but it is important to keep the culture of the country. It’s important to have English players and important to keep the identity. I love players from everywhere, if they are good better but we need to understand we are in England, in a country where we need to respect the culture.
Pre-Manchester United, December 5
While some departures look like they will occur, Chelsea’s injury situation has left the club unaware of whether they are oversubscribed. For the moment they remain content with the size of the squad, though additions could see movement out.
Pochettino was quick to hit back at assertions he was in charge of a large group: “No, not massive. We are happy with the squad. Only that from the beginning of the season we deal with too many injuries, unexpected. If you see tomorrow, the squad, too many young guys will be involved from the academy.”
Post-Everton, December 10
While Pochettino has since looked to clarify is comments, in his disappointment with Chelsea’s Everton outing, the former Spurs boss appeared to openly suggest that Chelsea would require movement in January to target success now.
He said: “I think it’s about to improve. We were talking after nearly four or five months, or 16 games, it’s about to assess. We were not able today with all of the chances we had. We need to score if we want to win the game and we want to be in a different position in the table.”
“After five months, we need to check that is the reality,” Pochettino added. “If we do not receive enough, maybe we need to do something, some movement that is a thing to analyse with the sporting director, the owner and to change the dynamic and to improve in the second part of the season because we need to be more aggressive.”
He then explicitly mentioned the transfer window: “Then there’s a massive assessment from the beginning of the season, from day one until today. When the transfer window opens, we will see what we can do. I will not say I need to ask for more player or less player but it’s to see if the perception matches the reality. Is expectation here, reality here because we are missing something in the middle. That is the reality, maybe we need to improve our reality.”
Pre-Sheffield United, December 15
The Blues boss then looked to clarify his meaning before the next match.
He said: “No, we cannot sometimes take my words or sentences out of context. When we talk, or some of you ask me, to be fair, I don’t want to blame journalists but after a game when you lose, you are tired, there are too many things going on; it feels like too many interviews. With six or seven interviews before the press conference, you feel you need to repeat, repeat and sometimes you are tired, you see the place was so hot, it was difficult. It wasn’t my intention because we were talking about solutions.
“Of course, this time and in this period, the top and the bottom are all doing the same. We assess the squad, see injured players, we see a period like now where we have a few players more. It is time to analyse and think, maybe yes or maybe no. That was my comment but, if you put the comment out of context, you can create a big mess but I didn’t say nothing.
“You ask me about Nkunku, it is like a new signing because we didn’t use except for pre-season. Romeo Lavia will be fit in maybe one week or 10 days. These are two players who still haven’t made their debuts. Chilly and Fofana, who maybe needs more time, but we need two, three or four more players not making their debuts with us or are key players for us. I was talking, I am never going to ask, you know me from Tottenham and Southampton, and it is always about helping all the project. We are in a project and we have signed players and have a new squad but a list of injured since the beginning and it was massive. When you are disappointed, you may twist some words.”
Post-Luton, December 30
On this occasion Pochettino was more evenhanded and was more focused on improving the squad through coaching but did not rule out a move.
He said: “That is a thing to talk with the owners and sporting directors. Always we have very good communication. We are not worried about that. We are going to assess now, we have a few days and we will start the transfer window now. We will talk and see if we need to do something or not. The most important in my opinion is to work with the squad, it is only now pushing them to step up, recovering players, that is my focus, 100 per cent to try to improve our squad and the players that we have.”