EXCL: Caicedo and Mitrovic should be targeted, Why Mount can go, Lukaku must stay at Inter, Kovacic dipped, and Optimistic for Pochettino

The Frank Leboeuf Chelsea FC column

Mauricio Pochettino was finally confirmed as the new Chelsea manager at the weekend after we played our final game of the season and there is a lot of work to do for him to do to get us back on track.

The first task is to reduce the size of the squad. It’s not down to him but it’s down to the board to make sure that the prices of players are affordable for any team who would like to sign them. It doesn’t mean that you have to throw players away for silly fees and for something that is not a good deal for Chelsea. But it’s an emergency and it’s compulsory to make sure that you have a good squad size for Pochettino to work with.

Pochettino has the knowledge of the Premier League, he knows exactly how it all works with a team who haven’t been successful and he comes in to try and turn it around - as he did at Tottenham. He knows how to put the players back on track. But again, I do have some question marks about his capability of dealing with things at a big club. It was hard for him at PSG, although it wasn’t always his fault in terms of handling the dressing room at a club like PSG as we all know that it’s almost impossible to deal with the dressing room there because of the behaviour of the chairman, or the non-behaviour of the chairman. It’s hard to judge Pochettino on that.

Pochettino is tough and he will have to be tough at Chelsea, by first reducing the squad and then putting the players back on track and in the right frame of mind. I do think he might be the right person to do that. He’s a very hard-worker, a lover of football, and he’s going to use all the tools that he has to make sure that the players are going to be really tuned in and working hard. If you’re not working hard enough then you are not going to play, and that’s his policy. I will say that whilst I have question marks, I am quite positive and optimistic about Pochettino coming in at Chelsea now.

Mateo Kovacic could leave this summer and is reportedly close to joining Manchester City.

When he was playing alongside N’Golo Kante when Kante was at his best, Kovacic became one of the best midfielders in the world for me and the pair were absolutely fantastic. They both work very hard, the technique and the way Kovacic uses the ball, he’s very clean and tidy. When he was at his best like he was at the beginning of the season before the World Cup, he was one of the best players around in his position. then the World Cup happened and he kind of disappeared after that, had some injuries, and he was consistently giving away easy passes, and we aren’t used to that from him.

If he goes to City, where is he going to play? Is he going to start over Rodri for example? No, I don’t think so. Do you want to play 20 games a season at City, or go to another team playing 50 games a season?

I’ll be sad to see him leave. When he came from Real Madrid he wasn’t the player that he developed in to at Chelsea a few years after. I have enjoyed seeing him play for Chelsea though, I think he fought for the club.

But the club has to reduce the squad and that is the process of it and you have to be ready to lose good players.