Mauricio Pochettino has ruled out any chance of Chelsea trying to sign Harry Kane this year and hinted that the Blues are working hard to bring in an alternative to solve their goalscoring problem.
Chelsea scored only 38 Premier League goals last season, the fifth worst record in the division, and have been linked with a move for Kane, who hit 30 of Tottenham’s 68 league goals last season.
The Enlgand captain is in the final year of his contract at Tottenham, but his former manager Pochettino dismissed rumours that he will make a move to sign Kane for his new club.
“It’s not fair to talk about players at other clubs, but he is one of the greatest strikers in the world. Fans know my relationship with him was always amazing. I saw him when he was young, grow up and achieve all he was achieving and of course we have a great relationship,” said Pochettino at his first press conference as Chelsea’s manager on Friday.
“But at the moment we are thinking in different ways. We are not thinking about him. We are going to add players that can score and we are working on it.”
Pochettino stressed his Chelsea squad is not yet finalised, in terms of ins and outs, and only once it is will he decide who will replace captain Cesar Azpilicueta, whose departure to Atletico Madrid was announced this week. “The squad is not ready yet, and when it is finished we will see, get a feeling for their character, commitment.”
Pochettino did admit, however, that he is looking forward to the buzz of being back in the Premier League. After being sacked by Spurs in 2019, he spent 18 months at Paris St Germain before being sacked a year ago, since when he has been out of football until Chelsea, who have got through 28 changes of managers in the past 34 years, came calling.
Pochettino understands the frailty of his position but said: “I love the risk. I love to be on the top with the expectations to be here, and I think for me it’s a challenge. For me it’s a big challenge and I want to feel the adrenaline again, to be there and fight for big things.
“The history of this club is to win trophies and that is I want to do. I want prove myself , always push myself.”
Pochettino already looks settled at Stamford Bridge, which has seen enormous upheaval over the past 14 months, since Roman Abramovich was forced to sell up because of UK government sanctions against Russia.
Under new ownership, Chelsea went rapidly downhill from Club World Cup winners to a laughing stock, burning through managers as they crashlanded in the bottom half of the Premier League despite spending over €600m on new players.
A raft of the bloated squad have already been jettisoned, and more will be shipped out as Pochettino attempts to replicated the turnaround he achieved soon after he first arrived at Tottenham in 2014, clearing out the deadwood and building a young hungry team that would challenge consistently for the Premier League and Champions League.
He knows he has a huge task on his hands, and many pundits are saying it will take at least one transitional season to start challenging again, but Pochettino knows the reality of life at Stamford Bridge. “When you are here at Chelsea, it’s not about asking for time. You need to deliver from day one.
“That is how we are working at the training ground, we need to be competitive now or we are not going to arrive on time. Our aim is to win. We need to create the belief from the beginning, and I think we are going to have a squad of players that can deliver what we expect.”
Given the turmoil and the exodus of experienced players, his team could be excused for not hitting the ground running. But he says: “No excuses.
“I don’t want to make excuses to the players, saying we need time to rebuild, we need time to work, we need this, we need that. No, no excuses. We start to work hard, to drive the way we want. The competition doesn’t wait for anyone and now we are going to start again against Liverpool in our first game to be ready to win. If not we are going to struggle for sure.”
