According to Jacob Steinberg’s piece in the Guardian this evening, Chelsea have set their target for Mauricio Pochettino – Europe or bust.
The coach will get until the end of the season (barring any major disasters), but at that point it will come down to whether he’s got his team into continental competition of some description.
That could yet be through the league or through the FA Cup, although neither feels too likely right now. If he doesn’t make the grade, plans are already in place to sound out a replacement.
Steinberg names two top candidates – Ruben Amorim of Sporting, or Brighton’s Roberto De Zerbi.
Each would have their strengths and weaknesses, although before we get down to deciding who would be better, we need to understand that we might not end up with either. Barcelona, Bayern Munich, Liverpool and potentially Manchester United will all be on the hunt for a new coach, and most of them are more tempting jobs than Chelsea right now.
Neither of these candidates would offer the slightest upgrade from Poch, particularly since neither has experience under the spotlight at a big club. Besides that, it would create another massive upheaval to make a change. Silly to even be talking about it when Poch has had barely 8 months with a young squad that’s been rife with injuries.