Mauricio Pochettino drops cryptic hint over Chelsea future as he says ‘you need to ask the club if they want me’
MAURICIO POCHETTINO says only Chelsea can put a stop to the ‘stupid rumours’ about his future as boss.
Their head coach is taking no news as good news while battling to make his team a consistent force in the Premier League.
Chelsea are up to eighth in the table following Thursday’s 2-0 win over Tottenham – re-igniting hopes of a return to European football next season.
But questions still linger about whether Pochettino will be around to lead them after an erratic season.
He said: “I suppose that because I have one more year on my contract that I am going to be here. But enough about the stupid rumours.
“You need to ask the club if they want me to keep going or not – not to write things that make no sense.
“I have one more year on my contract here and if nobody says anything, I suppose that I am going to be here. Only if we finish the season and someone says to me “ciao”. We don’t know at the moment.”
Pochettino can make further strides towards a Europa League place by beating West Ham at home on Sunday.
The Hammers have uncertainty surrounding their manager David Moyes whose contract is up with just a couple of weeks left of the season.
Chelsea have battled a crippling injury list so extreme that Pochettino named four debutants on his bench against Spurs.
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He thinks he has done enough to remain in post when he meets chairman Todd Boehly to review his position in the summer.
Pochettino said: “It is like proving after all these circumstances and all of this situation, that we deserve to be here next season.
“Who is going to judge me?” I need to judge myself and all the players and of course with all the circumstances. But I wanted to say that it is enough with these type of rumours.”
Striker Christopher Nkunku and defender Levi Colwill could return from injury to boost the team against the Irons.
Chelsea have two games left after tomorrow to get into Europe again after a 12 month absence so cannot afford any more slip ups.
Pochettino said: “It is not about quality because when you are at Chelsea, assume you have the quality. The most important thing is that you work for the team.
Play and stay at your best. If you don’t compete, or your level is only 50 percent, it is better that we play someone with less quality, maybe younger, but competing at their best 100 percent
“It happened during the season that maybe we have lacked some type of players at their best to compete and get the results that we deserve.
“These are the most dangerous games because now we have to keep the same mentality. West Ham are a strong team, with great physicality, and they have had a fantastic season.
“They have been competing well in Europe and for us, we need to recover and maybe add some fresh legs to our squad because West Ham have had a whole week to prepare – that is why these are the most dangerous games.”