Desperate Chelsea boss Mauricio Pochettino tells Todd Boehly ‘I need players’ despite £600m January transfer splurge
MAURICIO POCHETTINO has sent a desperate SOS call to the Chelsea board, saying: I need players.
Poch takes charge of his first Blues game in the early hours of Thursday morning against League Two side Wrexham in North Carolina.
Having inherited an overflowing squad that at its biggest last season was 33, the Argentine coach has overseen a mass departure this summer with ELEVEN outgoings so far.
In return, just four senior players have been signed: forwards Christopher Nkunku and Nicolas Jackson, as well as two teenage winger prodigies in Angelo and Diego Moreira.
And despite forking out over £600m on new players over the past two windows, American owner Todd Boehly has been told to get a move on with improving the squad further.
Poch said: “I want the right profiles, the right players, to arrive and improve the squad.
“Of course, as soon as possible is better than later. Today is better than tomorrow. We need to work really hard on the targets we have. We know it’s difficult. We have a very young squad.
“It is a challenge. It is something we knew when we accepted being in charge of this club. Nothing to complain about, it is a really exciting moment.
“We are confident we can build a really good squad that is ready to compete in the Premier League. We are still working to finish it.”
Chelsea’s exits this window include Mateo Kovacic, Mason Mount, N’Golo Kante, Kai Havertz and Ruben Loftus-Cheek, as well as Christian Pulisic, Cesar Azpilicueta, Kalidou Koulibaly and Edouard Mendy.
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The likes of Romelu Lukaku, Pierre Emerick-Aubameyang and Hakim Ziyech are also back at Cobham awaiting an exit after being left out of the 29-man USA touring squad.
Midfield is an area of real concern, with only Enzo Fernandez and wantaway Conor Gallagher recognised names in the States.
Chelsea are set to make a third bid for Brighton’s Moises Caicedo after having a £70m bid rejected on Monday.
Poch has also been dealt a bad hand with his defence following the news that Wesley Fofana will miss a significant chunk of the season with surgery on a ruptured ACL.
The headaches do not stop there, with Levi Colwill linked with a move back to the Seagulls where he had an impressive loan spell last campaign.
On whether Fofana’s injury changes his transfer plans, Poch added: “We feel sad for [Wesley] for him first but then because he is an important player for the squad.
“We have to think and see if we stay how we are or whether we need to work to add a player but it is not sure.
“With Levi, we were talking. It was a nice talk. It is important that they need to know us.
“To know what we think, to see that the competition will be tough but to challenge for that and know they can be in the starting XI because football is about competing.
“They understood and we understood what they wanted to translate to us. All is clear and we are happy with all the players we have in the USA.”
Left-back Marc Cucurella is another player unsure about his own future having fallen out of favour under former bosses Graham Potter and interim Frank Lampard.
But the Spaniard said: “For sure I want to stay at Chelsea. I am very happy here. It was not an easy season and it is difficult for all the players to have time to adapt
“We finished with around 30 players in the squad and only 11 players played and the rest were not happy. It is difficult to live in this situation.
“All the players that stay here want to stay here, to have energy to try to play for this club and defend these colours.”
On the prospect of former Brighton team-mate Moises Caicedo joining him in West London, he added: “If he came here we would have a top midfielder for a long time.”
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