IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters/Blake Dahlin
While he is currently manager of the United States men's national soccer team, Mauricio Pochettino has reflected on his time in charge of some of his former clubs. This led to the quite remarkable claim that Chelsea should be stripped of a past title.
The Argentine was named USMNT boss back in 2024, having spent the prior season in charge of the Blues. His time back in the Premier League wasn't exactly an unmitigated success, as Chelsea finished sixth in the league, without winning any trophies. He departed the club by mutual agreement less than 12 months after arriving at Stamford Bridge.
His best years in English football were actually spent with Tottenham Hotspur, between 2014 and 2019. He took Spurs to a Champions League final (lost to Liverpool in 2019), and also finished second in the league in 2017. He's now claimed that that title should be stripped from Chelsea and handed to Tottenham.
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Pochettino: 'Spurs Deserve to be Premier League Champions'
Pochettino and Frank
As quoted by the Guardian, Pochettino claimed that Chelsea should be stripped of their 2016/17 Premier League title due to their financial rule breaches. The Blues were fined £10m by the Football Association in July and given a suspended two-window transfer ban for multiple rules violations during the Roman Abramovich era. Adding to that, they were also fined £10.75m by the Premier League in March.
As such, the USMNT boss has claimed that Spurs – who finished second that season, seven points behind the Blues – should retrospectively be crowned champions. He explained:
Chelsea Used Unlicensed Agents To Sign Stars Like Eden Hazard
Action Images via Reuters/Tony O'Brien
Chelsea's rule-breaking came about as they were found to have used unlicensed agents and sought to obscure the nature of their transfer business between 2009 and 2022. The deals that took Eden Hazard, Willian, David Luiz and Nemanja Matic to Stamford Bridge were among those found to have transgressed.
When asked if those players helped the team win the league under former boss Antonio Conte, Pochettino was adamant:
Backing up his point, Hazard was electric that season, scoring 16 league goals and earning a spot in the PFA Premier League Team of the Year. Pochettino explained how his former side had an unfair advantage after breaking the rules, adding:
“It’s impossible if only some clubs play with offside and another plays with no offside. Or one plays with VAR and another plays with no VAR. For everyone it needs to be the same rules. And then you have the capacity to create the best team.
“I don’t say that Chelsea didn’t play well, that Conte was not great. I don’t say that. I don’t want the message to be twisted. But if you broke the rules then ciao – you need to give it to another team. I don’t know why that didn’t happen. What is being promoted and incentivised is to break the rules. If you don’t punish in the way that you need to punish, I say: ‘Yeah … I lost my job [at Spurs] because we didn’t win a title.’”
Between 2009 and 2022 – the years in which the club were found guilty of using unlicensed agents and seeking to obscure the nature of their transfer business – Chelsea won three league titles, two Champions Leagues, two Europa Leagues, four FA Cups and one League Cup. It