Mauricio Pochettino could cost Chelsea up to £10 million in severance fees, according to reports.
While this cost may not scratch the surface of Chelsea’s vault, it could land them in trouble with the Premier League.
Financial Fair Play issues are begin deliberated on in the upper room of the league management. Manchester City, Everton, Nottingham Forest and Chelsea are among the clubs whose profitability and sustainability have been called into question per the terms of the league’s FFP rules.
Punishments have been doled out to a few and are being discussed for the others. There are also a few clubs being investigated for FFP breaches.
The Blues did not carry out any big transfer business in the most recent transfer window due to this issue. However, spending any funds on severing Pochettino’s contract could add to their FFP woes.
Reports from England state that the club are considering listening to the fans to axe Pochettino, who recently lost his second-straight game by a four-goal margin over the weekend. The clubs sit in 11th place after 23 games played in the league. This is despite their efforts to greatly strengthen the squad and make it better.
The former Tottenham Hotspur manager is the club’s third manager in two-and-a-half years and they have spent more than half of that time in the bottom half of the table. They have also dealt with a lot of injuries and changes to their squad, which many believe is one of the reasons for their poor performances in the past two-and-a-half years.
They risk finishing another season below the top ten with Pochettino’s style of play, which is worrisome for those at the helm of the club’s affairs.
On the other hand, the club has slim pickings for Pochettino’s replacement. Currently, there are six top managers who are free agents that the club could approach if they decide to fire their manager. Zinedine Zidane, José Mourinho, Antonio Conte, Julen Lopetegui, Hansi Flick and Joachim Löw are the managers.
None of these men look like they would accept an offer from Chelsea, especially Mourinho and Conte, who are former managers of the club. Zidane is the one lowest on the pyramid thanks to his pickiness. The others could listen to Chelsea’s offers but their demands may cause a deal not to happen.
Chelsea will be forced to perform a cost-benefit analysis on the 51-year-old Pochettino as the leader of their audacious new project in the coming weeks.
