Mauricio Pochettino has been warned 20 managers could not fix Chelsea’s problems.
Former Chelsea midfielder Emmanuel Petit said the in-fighting in the dressing room will make it impossible to succeed for any manager. Ex-Spurs boss Pochettino is set to take charge at Chelsea but will come in on the back of a disastrous campaign as interim boss Frank Lampard has now suffered six straight defeats since taking charge.
Chelsea are already bracing themselves for a summer clear out, with Mason Mount, Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Conor Gallagher possible departures, to balance the books and also reduce numbers in an overcrowded and unhappy dressing room.
Petit was at Chelsea’s 3-1 defeat at Arsenal and says the rows between players on the pitch was there for everyone to see. World Cup winner Petit said: “I was quite close to the Chelsea bench and I saw some of the players having arguments between them in the second half especially.
“I was very shocked in the first half by the attitude of the players, the body language, no response, no pride, no unity, no friendship. I was thinking you could put 20 managers on the bench and it won’t change anything at all at the moment. They need to clear something in the dressing room first and then think about the manager afterwards.
“You can put the best manager on the bench now and he doesn’t get the right answer, there are too many players. It’s a mess and it was embarrassing to watch Chelsea in the first half and I feel sorry for the fans.”
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Pochettino is likely to be named as their next new boss before the end of the campaign but will not take charge until next season. But the wretched run of form is already giving him major clues as to who should be kept and sold at Stamford Bridge.
Chelsea have yet to agree a deal with N’Golo Kante, they face a dilemma on Mateo Kovacic whose contract is running down and keeper Edouard Mendy could leave. Having spent over £600million under Todd Boehly’s reign, Chelsea will also have to balance the books to fall into line with spending restrictions plus the financial blow of missing out on Europe.
They would get maximum profit from cashing in on homegrown players like Mount, Loftus-Cheek and Gallagher, while Callum Hudson-Odoi has almost become the forgotten man while on loan at Bayer Leverkusen.
But few Chelsea players are doing their long-term prospects any favours with recent displays and, despite the squad size causing major dressing room unrest with big name stars left out in the cold, their attitude has raised huge alarm bells.
