Revealed: The philosophical divide that led to Mauricio Pochettino’s split from Chelsea’s owners – and how Virgil van Dijk hammered it home before they cut ties with the manager

On Tuesday, bombshell news dropped that Mauricio Pochettino had mutually agreed to leave Chelsea, after just one season in charge at the club. 

Mail Sport understands that the 52-year-old Argentine coach was subject to an appraisal by co-controlling owner Behdad Eghbali and sporting directors Paul Winstanley and Laurence Stewart. 

‘On behalf of everyone at Chelsea, we would like to express our gratitude to Mauricio for his service this season,’ Stewart and Winstanley said on the club’s website. ‘He will be welcome back to Stamford Bridge any time and we wish him all the very best in his future coaching career.’ 

Their review came following their 2-1 victory against Bournemouth on the final day of the Premier League campaign, and while much pressure had mounted on Pochettino at points this season, amid his side’s indifferent form, he would get another crack to lead his side out next season. 

Some may argue his side’s difficulties during the first half of the campaign may have been down to the severity of their injury list, with Chelsea being plagued by a raft of absences. Key players Ben Chilwell and Reece James missed large portions of the season, while newcomers Christopher Nkunku has struggled for game time this season.

But they appeared to turn things around, with Cole Palmer’s heroics in front of goal helping Chelsea surge to a sixth-place finish, wrapping up their season in style winning their final five league matches. 

Even Todd Boehly spoke recently of the progress that has been made at the club, seemingly stating that he had felt that the players were starting to gel. 

It seems though, that while things had started to look up on the pitch, Pochettino was, according to The Telegraph, somewhat at odds with the club’s hierarchy and was not in approval of their playing philosophy for the team.

The outlet claims that the 52-year-old football coach was ‘at odds with the structure being built by Chelsea’s owners and sporting directors, who have made it abundantly clear they believe football belongs to the players and the specialists.’

The Telegraph says that Pochettino had been ‘dismissive of using set-piece specialists’ with the Blues going on to rank 9th in the top-flight for goals conceded from set-pieces, 11. They are also 10th for goals scored from set-pieces, having netted 12 this season. 

Back-to-back defeats against Liverpool and Wolves, where Chelsea conceded four times on both occasions, had caused speculation to rise over the manager’s future at the club. 

The west London club’s woes were compounded after they suffered a late defeat at the hands of Liverpool in the Carabao Cup final. Reaching the final of a major tournament in his first season in charge would have gone down as a feather in Pochettino’s cap – but for the manner in which Chelsea were beaten. 

Virgil van Dijk broke free from Chelsea’s defenders to score a header in extra-time at Wembley from a corner. 

Perhaps the Dutchman’s header went some way in convincing the ownership group that they needed to take action to improve their set-piece play. 

Pochettino later revealed that he had discussed the team’s strategy with co-owner Eghbali, after claims had emerged that he had blanked co-owner Boehly after the game. 

‘After the final, during the night, I met Behdad and we were talking. We were sharing our opinions of the game and the opportunity we missed,’ the Argentine said ahead of their FA Cup clash vs Leeds.

While he also admitted his disappointment at the loss, he added: ‘To get to the final was a massive achievement in this project.’

Mail Sport later wrote that Boehly and his leadership group were looking to hire a new set-piece specialist for next season, and this paper understands that the Argentine was not consulted in their search for a new appointment. 

They would ultimately snap up Brentford’s Bernardo Cueva, with The Telegraph reporting the now departed Blues boss had ‘come to accept the arrival of Cueva’.

Pochettino will now leave the club, having won 27 matches, drawn 10 and lost 14 games across all competitions. During his time at Chelsea, the former Spurs boss amassed a points-per-game ratio of 1.66. 

‘Thank you to the Chelsea ownership group and Sporting Directors for the opportunity to be part of this football club’s history,’ Pochettino had said, on his departure. 

‘The Club is now well positioned to keep moving forward in the Premier League and Europe in the years to come.’