Chelsea boss Pochettino may copy brutal Man Utd move and banish three players

Chelsea manager Mauricio Pochettino may be forced to be brutal in his decision-making next week when some of his players return for pre-season. Several stars have declared that they will be linking up with their teammates on Monday, and allowing wantaway stars to reintegrate with the squad could be a disastrous decision by the Blues.

Upon his arrival in the Stamford Bridge dugout, Pochettino made it his priority to reduce the size of his squad, both to allow for incomings but also to boost morale. Frank Lampard and Graham Potter have both made it no secret that they were working with too many players last season, which only fuelled unhappiness from those being starved of opportunities.

Wantaway stars Mateo Kovacic, Mason Mount and Kalidou Koulibaly were allowed to leave as a result earlier this summer, though the mass clearout is far from complete and Chelsea are expected to continue negotiating departures until the dying embers of the transfer window.

However, until the summer concludes, Pochettino may need to take a leaf out of the book of Erik ten Hag at Manchester United when dealing with players that have had their heads turned. According to The Telegraph, Romelu Lukaku, Hakim Ziyech and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang are expected back at training on Monday – though the trio have no intention of being Chelsea players when the window concludes.

All three are attracting interest from Saudi Arabia and around Europe, and the Blues are open to their respective departures for the right price. Thus, Pochettino could be forced to make one of his most significant decisions upon becoming Chelsea manager by assessing whether he can risk allowing the trio to potentially disrupt his pre-season preparations.

Ten Hag ‘expelled’ those who were surplus to requirements last summer and banished them to a different area of the training ground, favouring building harmony within his ranks and working with those who truly want to be present.