Chelsea hold talks with Mauricio Pochettino: how many trophies has the ex-PSG coach won?

British broadcaster Sky Sports have revealed that Premier League club Chelsea have held talks with former Tottenham Hotspur and PSG coach Mauricio Pochettino over becoming their new manager. However, there doesn’t appear to be any chance of the Argentinian taking over the reins at Stamford Bridge in the immediate future.

The Blues sacked former boss Graham Potter at the beginning of April, less than six months after paying his £21.5 million ($26.8 millon) release clause to Brighton. Under Potter, Chelsea, who had been expected to challenge for the Premier League title after spending over $600 million on new players since last June, had dropped into the bottom half of the table and dropped well out of the race to qualify for next season’s Champions League.

Club legend Frank Lampard, himself a former Chelsea manager, was appointed as interim boss until the end of the season but has endured an awful start to this second spell in the dugout, losing all four matches in charge, including two 2-0 losses to Real Madrid in the Champions League quarter-finals.

“Five candidates” lined up for Chelsea job

Sky report that the Blues have held “initial talks” with Pochettino and say that he is one of five candidates - thought to include ex-Bayern Munich boss Julian Nagelsmann but not former Barcelona coach Luis Enrique - the club are looking at to fill the position. If the Argentinian is ultimately chosen, Lampard will almost certainly continue in is role for the next few weeks despite his struggles, as Pochettino has indicated that he will assess his options in the summer, having reportedly turned down several offers in different leagues around Europe. The former Argentina international was contacted by Chelsea when Thomas Tuchel left the club before Potter’s appointed and has twice been approached by Real Madrid.

Pochettino “like Guardiola and Klopp”

“He’s one of the best managers, if not the best manager in the world. He deserves to get all the accolades managers like Pep Guardiola and Jurgen Klopp get”. These were the words of former England winger Andros Townsend, who played under Pochettino at Tottenham Hotspur. The Argentinian became one of the most sought-after coaches in world soccer due to the work he did in North London between from 2014 to 2019, turning Spurs into consistent top-four challengers in the Premier League and Champions League finalists in 2019.

Which trophies has Pochettino won as a manager?

Yet silverware has, by and large, eluded Pochettino, who also lost a League Cup final during that period. Even in his season-and-a-half with Paris Saint-Germain, the first – and so far only – three trophies of his managerial career were not enough to keep him in a job for more than 18 months. Before rather embarrassingly missing out on the Ligue 1 title to Lille in his first half-season, the Parisians won the Trophée des Champions (French Super Cup) days after he was appointed in January 2021 and then went onto win the 2021 Coupe de France and, finally, the league in 2021-22.

However, a tame defeat to Manchester City in the 2021 Champions League semi-final was followed by a total collapse in the round of 16 against Real Madrid the following season, which ultimately saw Pochettino’s time in the French capital come to an end.