Mauricio Pochettino Speaks For The First Time Since Being Appointed As New Chelsea Manager.

Mauricio Pochettino has reported to the club's Cobham training ground for the first time on Monday, as he gets ready for the monumental task ahead of restoring order and progression with the Blues team.

The Argentine, is now officially in charge of Chelsea having been announced at the end of last season. His contract started on July 1 and he is focused on shaping his squad to ensure they enjoy a better season than the last.

Chelsea suffered their worst campaign ever since the Premier League began. 

They finished a lowly 12th last season, losing 16 of their 38 games while scoring at an average of just one goal per game. 

The poor performance saw the exit of Thomas Tuchel and Graham Potter who were both sacked despite the club huge spendings (£600m) on transfers by owners Todd Boehly and Behdad Eghbali.

Club legend and former manager Frank Lampard was re-appionted to take charge in an interim basis until the end of the last season with no improvement in the situation at all.

Pochettino now arrives as the fourth Blues manager in the last twelve months, and his first objective, is to see them firing on the domestic front.

The club filmed the arrival of the new boss for his first day on site, including him meeting and hugging some of his staff.

This is where it starts. 👊#WelcomePoch pic.twitter.com/scmF0ThuON

— Chelsea FC (@ChelseaFC) July 3, 2023

The 51-year-old looks to cut down a heavily over-bloated squad which left some training sessions during the previous season featuring up to 40 players.

This has taken immediate effect during the off-season, with nine players already removed from the club’s books.

Kai Havertz moving across London to join rivals Arsenal, Mateo Kovacic signing for treble winners Manchester City, Kalidou Koulibaly and Edouard Mendy all giving in to the temptation of the multi-million pound offers from Saudi Arabia, Ruben Loftus-Cheek moving to AC Milan, and N'Golo Kante also taking up a lucrative contract offer by Saudi Pro League champions Al-Ittihad.

Mason Mount is also set to depart Stamford Bridge in the coming days after Man United reportedly reached a £60m agreement to sign the England midfielder.

The only arrivals so far, are France striker Christopher Nkunku who joined from RB Leipzig for £52m and Senegal forward Nicolas Jackson on an eight-year contract from Villarreal.

 On his first day at Cobham, Mauricio Pochettino spoke exclusively about why he joined the project at Chelsea, saying that it was always easy to say yes to job based on the back of the club’s achievements in recent years.

He says there is plenty of work still to do in order to shape his Chelsea squad ready for the new season.

"For me, it is a pleasure and honour to now be involved with Chelsea Football Club. We are so excited, and I know Chelsea very well, it is one of the greatest clubs in the world. So of course, it was easy for us to make the decision to move here", he told the club's website.

"If we are all together, we are going to be very strong. We have an unbelievable squad and for sure are going to bring players with commitment who want to be part of it also. With the fans and everyone, we can find again the way to be successful.

"It is not closed, the squad, and the club is doing a fantastic job to finish the squad so we have the players here to work with us as soon as possible. Together, we are going to be in a perfect situation to work and develop the way we want to apply ourselves on the pitch.

"We are excited to work with a very young team, with a different approach than in the past," he said.

"But I think we all need to understand that we have to work really hard and create a very good atmosphere at the training ground to build success for the team in the next few years."

Pochettino also boldly claimed that the club has been the best team in England over the last decade and a half. "I think it’s important and it’s a culture of winning. In the last 10, 12, 15 years, Chelsea is the greatest team in England. I know very well the Premier League and what the culture of Chelsea means. I think our fans are excited to again be on the road of trying to win."

Mauricio Pochettino stops to pose for a photograph with a Chelsea fan as he leaves Cobham this evening. 🇦🇷📸 pic.twitter.com/aTQMwGUOSv

— Football Daily (@footballdaily) July 3, 2023

Pochettino had made a name for himself long ago in the top flight of English football during his impressive stints at both Southampton and Tottenham Hotspur.

He spent five years in charge of Spurs, leading them to the Champions League final in 2019, before an 18-month spell in charge of Ligue 1 giants Paris Saint-Germain.

He won three trophies in his time at PSG manager, including the Ligue 1 title in 2021-22.

Chelsea will begin the new season at home to Liverpool on Sunday August 13th.