Mauricio Pochettino is ‘close’ to being appointed as Chelsea’s next permanent manager, but will not take over at the club until the summer.
Chelsea are nearing an agreement with Pochettino after positive talks with the Argentine this week, who is interested in returning to the Premier League after previous spells at Southampton and Tottenham.
Pochettino has emerged as the frontrunner after ex-Bayern Munich manager Julian Nagelsmann ruled himself out of the running and former Barcelona boss Luis Enrique failed to impress the Chelsea board during talks.
The 51-year-old has been without a role since leaving Paris Saint-Germain last summer. The Daily Mail are reporting that Pochettino will not officially take charge at Chelsea until the summer and Frank Lampard is expected to remain in interim charge until the end of the season.
Lampard was asked on Pochettino’s potential arrival at his pre-match press conference ahead of Chelsea’s clash with Brentford in the Premier League on Wednesday evening, but refused to comment on the speculation.
“I’m not going to get involved, it’s all speculation,” Lampard said.
On whether he expects to be in charge for the remainder of the season, he added: “I wouldn’t expect anything in football, but we have come in to a club with big difficulties with not a lot of time. A lot of factors as to the four games I have been here, the team and club have been struggling for a while, we are here to help. Things won’t change in a short time.”
