Humbled Chelsea pin turnaround hopes on Mauricio Pochettino

LONDON – Having flopped spectacularly last season, big-spending Chelsea head into the new English Premier League campaign looking invigorated after a summer overhaul that has seen

the arrival of experienced coach Mauricio Pochettino

and a host of new faces.

Pochettino wants to turn the 2021 Champions League victors back into a winning machine after they suffered their worst Premier League finish since 1994 in the 2022-23 season, when their American owners fired two coaches and still failed to spark a turnaround.

“If you don’t win in a club like Chelsea, for sure you are going to suffer. But I don’t want to talk about the past,” the Argentinian said, when he arrived at the club in July.

“We want to start to believe from day one, and we want to be the best and most competitive. We need to believe we can compete with a team like Manchester City.”

The club have cut the size of the bloated squad that proved impossible to manage for Thomas Tuchel and Graham Potter, selling a host of big names, such as

Germany striker Kai Havertz,

who moved to London rivals Arsenal, and home-grown midfield playmaker Mason Mount, who

left for Manchester United.

New strikers Nicolas Jackson

and Christopher Nkunku, signed from Villarreal and RB Leipzig respectively, have raised hopes among fans of an end to Chelsea’s ineptitude in front of goal.

Nkunku, however, went down clutching his leg after a challenge in the 1-1 pre-season friendly draw with Borussia Dortmund in Chicago, and has undergone knee surgery that will rule him out for an “extended period”.

Without the French international, the Blues could now be forced into the transfer market to recruit more firepower.

Last season, they found the net only 38 times in 38 league games.

Highly rated central defender Levi Colwell ended speculation about a move away from his boyhood club when he signed a contract in late July, bolstering a defence that will be missing Wesley Fofana, who has also suffered a major knee injury.

The

signing of centre-back Axel Disasi from Monaco

will bring extra cover to the back line, which will be marshalled again by Thiago Silva who, at 38, is by far the oldest member of Chelsea’s young squad, and a new goalkeeper in Robert Sanchez.

Chelsea are still hoping to sign midfield anchor Moises Caicedo from Brighton & Hove Albion, which could allow Enzo Fernandez to play more in the attacking positions that helped Argentina to win the World Cup in 2022.

Pochettino – who almost turned perennial underachievers Tottenham Hotspur into contenders between 2014 and 2019 and won France’s Ligue 1 with Paris Saint-Germain in 2022 – gave Chelsea fans a taste of his style in a pre-season US tour with the Blues winning three games and drawing twice, scoring 13 times along the way.

But the Argentinian knows the judgment of fans and owners will rest on

his ability to get the Blues competing for major honours

again, even if they will not be playing in European competitions for the first time in seven seasons.

Chelsea are due to open their Premier League campaign against Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool on Sunday. REUTERS