“Non-starter” – Why Pochettino is happy to turn down Neymar | OneFootball

Yesterday’s news that Neymar is pushing to leave PSG caused plenty of excitement among Chelsea fans, as it should.

We can’t offer what we used to in terms of guaranteed trophies, but we’re still a big name in the best city in the world, and we can still pay big wages. Plus of course, he doesn’t have too many options.

As we wrote yesterday Mauricio Pochettino factor was always going to be crucial. He worked with Neymar in Paris, and it seemed likely that their relationship would decide whether Neymar wanted to come, and whether Pochttino wanted to have him.

That seems to have been confirmed by Nizaar Kinsella in the Evening Standard today. He writes that, effectively, Pochettino has vetoed the move:

“Pochettino and Chelsea are aligned in their transfer strategy, which is aimed at targeting younger players rather than superstar names,” Kinsella writes.

“Sporting directors Laurence Stewart and Paul Winstanley are working closely with Pochettino and a move for Neymar is seen as a non-starter.!

The fact that Christopher Nkunku is now out for such a long period will certainly change the balance of some of our plans, but we can’t see this being one of them.