Mauricio Pochettino leaves Chelsea after meeting club chiefs

Mauricio Pochettino has left Chelsea by mutual consent less than a year after his appointment,.

The Argentine had met with owner Todd Boehly for a meal on Friday but refused to give detail on what was discussed. Pochettino was always scheduled to have an end-of-season review to assess his first year.

The 52-year-old guided Chelsea to sixth place in the Premier League and thus European football, having led the Blues the Carabao Cup final and FA Cup semi-final. He was in charge for 51 Chelsea games last season, winning 26 of them and totting up a 50.90% win ratio.

It's understood that club chiefs held a meeting with Pochettino on Monday and that he agreed to leave the club by mutual consent on Tuesday morning. It adds that it is not thought that there is any bad blood between the manager and the hierarchy but the search for a new manager will start immediately.

Ipswich Town boss Kieran McKenna has been linked as has Roberto De Zerbi, who left Brighton & Hove Albion on Sunday. Pochettino is now the third permanent manager Boehly has seen leave since his May 2022 arrival, having previously dismissed Thomas Tuchel and Graham Potter.

A statement from Chelsea on Tuesday read: "Chelsea FC can confirm that the Club and Mauricio Pochettino have mutually agreed to part ways.

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"Jesus Perez, Miguel d’Agostino, Toni Jimenez and Sebastiano Pochettino have left the club with Mauricio. The Club will be making no further comment until such time as a new Head Coach is appointed."

Sporting directors Laurence Stewart and Paul Winstanley added: "On behalf of everyone at Chelsea, we would like to express our gratitude to Mauricio for his service this season. He will be welcome back to Stamford Bridge any time and we wish him all the very best in his future coaching career."

Pochettino had been facing pressure over his job after a lacklustre first half to the season. Each loss incurred increased scrutiny on his position, which led him to argue that "it would not be the end of the world" if he left Chelsea this summer.

Pochettino officially joined Chelsea on July 1 last year, meaning he leaves the role after 10 months and 20 days in charge. The last Blues manager to do complete two full seasons was Antonio Conte in 2016/17 and 2017/18.