Chelsea have appointed former Tottenham boss Mauricio Pochettino as the club’s new manager. Pochettino has signed a two-year deal at Chelsea with the option of a third able to be taken up by the club, and takes charge at Stamford Bridge from 1 July now the season has come to an end, following Frank Lampard having stayed on as caretaker for the remainder of a disastrous 2022/23 campaign. Chelsea conducted a thorough managerial search after sacking Graham Potter in early April and held talks with Luis Enrique and Julian Nagelsmann, who withdrew his interest in the job, but it was Pochettino who stood out over several rounds of discussions with the co-owners Todd Boehly and Behdad Eghbali. Sources insist Pochettino was the only candidate Chelsea got into serious conversations with over taking the job. The Independent reported that Pochettino impressed the Chelsea hierarchy with his vision for the club, while the Argentine’s top-level experience and proven record of developing young players under a clear tactical system made him the outstanding candidate in the search led by co-sporting directors Paul Winstanley and Laurence Stewart. While the discussions were protracted and slower than anticipated, Pochettino has already discussed summer transfers as Chelsea look to trim down a bloated squad. The Independent reported that Chelsea will target a new striker, central midfielder and goalkeeper, with Harry Kane, Declan Rice, Alexis Mac Allister and Emiliano Martinez among those discussed. Pochettino will also seek talks with Romelu Lukaku when the striker returns from his loan at Inter Milan. “Mauricio’s experience, standards of excellence, leadership qualities and character will serve Chelsea Football Club well as we move forward. He is a winning coach, who has worked at the highest levels, in multiple leagues and languages. His ethos, tactical approach and commitment to development all made him the exceptional candidate,” read a statement by Steward and Winstanley. Pochettino will be joined by long-time coaches Jesus Perez, Miguel D’Agostino, Sebastiano Pochettino and Toni Jimenez at Stamford Bridge. That the most notable example of Pochettino’s managerial success came across London at rivals Tottenham has not been an obstacle in the 51-year-old returning to the Premier League. Pochettino forged a young, hungry squad at Tottenham and took the club to four consecutive top-four campaigns as well as second place in 2017, their highest finish since the 1960s. Under a bold and exciting style of play, Pochettino’s place as a Tottenham’s greatest manager of the modern era was sealed as he led the club to the 2019 Champions League final, but he was sacked just months after the 2-0 defeat to Liverpool in Madrid. At Chelsea, Pochettino will take over a club whose heavy investment in the transfer market under the new ownership has been followed by one of their worst seasons in recent history. Thomas Tuchel was sacked at the start of the campaign while Potter was relieved of his duties just months into signing a five-year deal at Stamford Bridge. Lampard then failed to turn the tide and won just once in 11 matches after returning to the club, resulting in a 12th-place finish. But Pochettino will also have a point to prove after being dismissed from his previous two positions. As well as Tottenham, Pochettino was sacked by Paris Saint-Germain at the end of last season with the club’s Ligue 1 title unable to make amends for the failure of not winning the Champions League. The Argentinian has been out of work since, although he had been linked with a return to Tottenham - especially given the vacancy created by the departure of Antonio Conte. Read More Football rumours: Barcelona set sights on Bruno Guimaraes Frank Lampard believes Chelsea standards have slipped as cheerless campaign ends Easy in the end for Manchester City – same again next season?

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Farewell, then, Neymar. He is only 31, but his choice to leave Paris Saint-Germain and join Saudi “giants” (his word) Al-Hilal – eight months after what was likely his last shot at winning the World Cup – feels like the beginning of the end for Neymar at the top of the game. It has, for the most part, been a joy. “He makes football a pleasure,” once said Pep Guardiola. Neymar would choose to dribble into a maze of defenders rather than play a simple pass, but invariably he would come out with the ball at his feet. His highlights reel is full of jinking runs and cheeky nutmegs, most of which lead to little, and often his skills seem pointless, like controlling a high ball wth a Cruyff-turn. But then what is pleasure if not acting without necessity, just for the fun of it? He has won almost everything – multiple league and cup titles, the Champions League, the Club World Cup and the Olympic Games – and yet looks set to end his career without the World Cup his nation expected or the Ballon d’Or his talent merited (he twice finished third). It would be easy to conclude that Neymar lacked application, particularly at PSG. His appearance record – never playing more than 22 games in a single season for the club – hints at a deeper malaise beyond the recurring injuries that dogged his time in Paris. PSG fans grew weary of Neymar, while his support for Brazilian far-right president Jair Bolsonaro made him even easier to dislike. But no one can ever say he didn’t care about football. Neymar wept in the dressing room before his final game for Santos. He wept when PSG lost the 2020 Champions League final to Bayern Munich in Lisbon. He wept on Lionel Messi’s shoulder after losing the 2021 Copa America final to Argentina. He wept when Croatia came back to win on penalties in Qatar. Expectation was the constant background noise to Neymar’s career, and the pain of defeat was visceral. His decade in Europe was played mostly in his friend Messi’s shadow. The only player on the planet better than Neymar in every facet of the game was on the pitch for most of his 359 matches for Barcelona and PSG. It must have been frustrating at times that his greatest accomplice was also a source of shade, even if they formed one of the greatest teams of all time – Barcelona’s treble-winning 2014-15 side – with that fantasy front three with Luis Suarez. They played with joy, and Neymar was the epitome of that. Like his club career, Neymar’s international legacy is framed by Messi. The 2021 Copa America final between Argentina and Brazil was billed as a fight between the countries’ two talismen, each with a chance to finally unload the burden they had carried for so long. Neither played particularly well that night in the Maracana, but it was Messi who celebrated and Neymar who needed consoling. Qatar 2022 was Neymar’s best chance to win the World Cup. He had sat in the stands injured watching Brazil lose 7-1 to Germany in the Maracana in 2014; he was powerless to stop a brilliant Belgium win in the quarter-finals at Russia in 2018. But Brazil arrived in Qatar as the pre-tournament favourites, ready to finally deliver on his destiny. So when he scored that mesmerising goal against Croatia in extra time of the quarter-final, weaving through an entire defence from a standing start to finally break the deadlock, if felt like that would be the goal to define his career, the one shown on repeat when future generations looked back at Brazil’s 2022 World Cup triumph. Instead Croatia came back and it was Messi’s goal a few days later that provided the tournament’s iconic moment, and Messi’s destiny which was fulfilled. That felt like Neymar’s last shot at the Ballon d’Or, which usually requires a Champions League or World Cup to convince its audience. And perhaps his move to Saudi is a tacit submission of sorts, a white flag in his long battle to transcend the Messi effect. The Independent has reported how Neymar tried to force a move to a Champions League club this summer, but couldn’t find a suitor. The footballing world stopped believing he could transform the most important games and the offers dried up. Instead he has accepted eye-watering paycheque along with his personal demands for three supercars, a 25-bedroom mansion, a very specifically sized swimming pool and a fridge permanently full of acai juice – the man loves his acai. And there is something ironic in Neymar leaving behind the giant profiles of Messi and Kylian Mbappe only to join Al-Hilal, a team with Cristiano Ronaldo. Perhaps he will be back in Europe before long. Perhaps the 2026 World Cup is still a realistic target – one last shot at winning the trophy he most craves, because really what can anyone possibly say once you’ve won that? But more realistic is that his move to Saudi Arabia erodes his already blunt edges, that other players overtake him in Brazil’s pecking order, that the European game moves on. His most famous goal remains one he scored aged 19 for Santos, which came after a dribble of unfathomable balance and control that requires rewinding like a magic trick. And perhaps, looking back, he could never have met the expectations he unknowingly set in that moment. Perhaps he did everything he possibly could have in the era of Messi. Read More Watch as PSG manager Luis Enrique holds press conference after Neymar departure Neymar departs PSG to become latest star signing for Saudi Pro League side Shots fired from Australia batter David Warner – Tuesday’s sporting social Neymar agrees Saudi move after only one European club showed interest Football rumours: Manchester United weighing up approach for Amadou Onana Kylian Mbappe set to return to PSG squad after ‘positive discussions’ – reports

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