While some members of the Chelsea squad must have been gutted by the news that Mauricio Pochettino has left the club by mutual consent, his exit will surely give others a fresh start under a new manager that they so badly need next season.
Mauricio Pochettino walked away from Chelsea just two days after their final game of the 2023/24 campaign.
Despite some inconsistency in his one and only year as Blues head coach, which included just three wins from his first 10 league matches, his side gathered some momentum recently to secure sixth spot in the division table.
Blues stars such as Cole Palmer and Conor Gallagher played the best football of their careers so far while being coached by Pochettino. It’s why there’s no surprise that both were included in Gareth Southgate’s 33-man England squad, which still needs to be cut by seven before this summer’s Euro 2024 tournament.
However, not everyone at Stamford Bridge could play their best football this year.
The Chelsea Chronicle has picked out three players at the club that may actually benefit from Pochettino’s departure.
Raheem Sterling
First up, Raheem Sterling is the Chelsea individual that could do with a blank canvas next year.
The Chelsea Chronicle thought that the 29-year-old winger would’ve been a good fit in a Pochettino side. In fairness, the Argentine manager did persist with him for most of the season as well.
However, Sterling lost his starting position towards the end, with his return of 10 goals and eight assists slightly masking over what’s been a challenging year.
It says it all that the wide man isn’t going to the Euros this summer with England.
Hopefully, the arrival of a new head coach can breathe some new life into a senior figure in this young squad.
Incidentally, The Telegraph reports that Chelsea’s four-man managerial shortlist includes Ipswich Town’s Kieran McKenna, Leicester City’s Enzo Maresca, Brentford’s Thomas Frank, plus a fourth unknown candidate.
Levi Colwill
You can’t pin much blame on Pochettino for how Sterling’s season unraveled. However, there should be some question marks about how Levi Colwill was treated this season.
The Chelsea Chronicle is baffled that a young defender such as Levi Colwill isn’t in the latest England squad. So, what’s gone wrong?
Colwill, who’s just 21, is a brilliant ball-playing centre-half. Unfortunately, he was shoehorned into the starting line-up at left-back too many times throughout the campaign. He was an unused substitute in the final four games of the season, too.
If the right manager comes in, Colwill’s got all the potential to shine as a nailed-on starter at centre-back.
The left-footed youngsters should be desperate to get into pre-season already and show his qualities to a new head coach.
Enzo Fernandez
Finally, The Chelsea Chronicle thinks the arrival of a new manager next season could result in a rebirth for Enzo Fernandez.
Fernandez, 23, was quite dazzling in midfield during his first six months as a Chelsea player. He couldn’t quite back that up in his first full season at Stamford Bridge, though.
Fernandez recently admitted that he played with pain for most of the season and suggested he wasn’t at his best. He said via journalist Christian Martin: “I was playing with pain and injections for 8 months. I had to make the decision to have surgery, it was the best. I was harming the team and didn’t want to expose myself.”
While the duo of Feranadez and Moises Caicedo struggled to gel in the 2023/24 campaign, perhaps a new coach can get the midfield stars playing their best together.
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